The Sydney Morning Herald has today featured an article on Senator Bridget McKenzie, her history with and reintroduction to shooting, and her current-day policies concerning firearms ownership, sports shooting and recreational hunting.
The Victorian Nationals Senator believes Australian gun owners are too often treated like “terrorists” and “rednecks” by those in the big cities who have never taken an interest in their way of life. “There’s a lot of snobbery and elitism that I find offensive and I really want to challenge it,” she said. In an effort to educate journalists about sports shooting, McKenzie last week organised a field trip for a few journalists to a target shooting range in Queanbeyan, NSW.
McKenzie has also repeatedly espoused the benefits of recreational hunting activities. “I know it will sound incongruous to people but hunting is about connecting with nature and the outdoors. You have to understand nature to reap the bounty of it,” she said. “If you have a gun or a bow and arrow, you don’t need urban society to provide for you…There’s something quite empowering, quite freeing about that.”