Getting along together

by Ian ‘Herb’ Prior

Rewritten from a speech given by Mr Prior at the Inaugural National Firearms Conference

To achieve a safe and secure firearms environment in Australia a number of things are necessary.

Lawful firearms owners, users and traders, must demonstrate to government and the Australian community at large their responsible attitude and genuine, sound endeavours leading towards the desired outcome of making Australia a safer and securer firearm community.

Responsible government must recognise and appreciate the attitudes and visions of the conscientious firearm owners, users and traders in their efforts to make Australia a safer and securer firearms community.

I am convinced that the ‘sports shooters’ are by their very nature decent, honest citizens that enjoy a lawful activity. I use that collective term simplistically to encompass those shooters in Australia that have membership of a recognised nationally affiliated and incorporated club with the necessary insurance policies and that participate in club activities regularly and meet all of the licensing regulations, both legally and morally.

I am also convinced that government needs the assistance and wisdom of the sports shooters and responsible traders, and the collective power of the national controlling bodies to make good government firearm initiatives work. I use the term ‘government’ simplistically to include all of our elected political representatives; the government of the day; the law enforcement, inspection and collection agencies - working under direction from Ministers; and of course the bureaucrats employed to assist and advise politicians.

Government must work hand in hand with the sports shooters and traders in the development of good policy and new initiatives and in the application of existing laws. To do this they must meet regularly in an impartial environment, with an open dialogue and a transparently honest process of reporting.

The sports shooters need to show government that they are fair dinkum in that they have initiatives of their own not prompted or pressured by government. The sports shooting organisations then need to face the public and media, demonstrating their sincerity with a ‘show and tell’ declaring the desired outcome. Once the declaration has been announced, then there is no place to hide. Every member of the national organisation and the executive are united in the commitment to make it work, and they must come to the public arena and declare the milestones as they are achieved.

For illustrative purposes take the recent example of the SSAA in their initiative to promote a higher level of firearm security at home. Their ‘secure your gun - secure your sport’ campaign involved printing and distributing posters and promotional material, giving away supplementary locking devices to assist their members reach this goal and following it up at club level with reminders and overt acts of open safety and security practices.

We all know the terrible effect that ‘one rotten apple’ can have on a barrel of perfectly good apples. I appeal to the national organisations and in particular the local club executive and members at large, to be ever vigilant for that ‘rotten apple’. Once identified, the apple must be dumped, post-haste - and I appeal to the regulative authorities to assist the concerned club with sage advice and/or deliberate action.

Remember well, that rotten apple can destroy forever the years of hard work you have put in to your sport. Not only at the administration level but also the hard work of our shooting sports competitors at Olympic, Commonwealth and World Championship levels.

I draw your attention to the results of the Australian Shooting Team at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. There were 29 competitors for a total of 30 medals: 11 gold, 13 silver and six bronze - unprecedented! Australia is at the forefront in target shooting in the world, not only in achievements, but the world now seeks Australian coaching methodology and competition preparedness.

The world has warmed to the Australian competitor with clean good looks, open friendliness, good media appeal, impeccable conduct and the carriage of good diplomacy and most of all drug free! They are doing more for Australia than most. It is time for the shooting disciplines to raise the bar and strive harder and a lot smarter and intelligently look for ways to improve their discipline’s national and international standing.

It is time for the various national bodies to look further afield for assistance, scope the options and develop an appealing vision that goes far beyond the normal executive tasks of administration. A clear and attractive vision that will entice shooters to greater heights, offering new and exciting challenges with the incentive of a place on an Australian sporting team. This is a communicable disease called ‘Green and Gold Malaria’, and it is quite contagious. Once caught it can take a very long time to recover - if ever.

I address the executive members of the sports shooting groups and say to you - there are various techniques, philosophies and styles of leadership to be developed and employed in the advancement of your shooting code - and these can be learnt. Don’t say “it’s too hard” or “I haven’t the time” or “I am only doing this on a voluntary basis”. I challenge you to take a step out of your comfort zone and achieve something not only for yourself, but for your sport’s shooters, your discipline and ultimately for Australia. The potential rewards are enormous.

It is for the government to seize upon the moment and assist the sports shooters and responsible traders by considering some concessions to philosophy and policy, because they are in fact demonstrating support to the government initiatives of catching criminals and illegal gun dealers.

Once the sports shooters and traders have promoted a professional, intelligent and dedicated position, the government needs to say, “We are comfortable with our relationship, let’s talk and see if we can improve it and make Australia a safer and securer firearm environment. For your participation and assistance in getting government policy accepted, we will talk about some concessions without detracting from the basic overall tight gun controls.”

For example, we could talk about concessions such as reducing or eliminating the 28-day cooling off period for those sports shooters experiencing a broken firearm and desperately needing a replacement to continue competition or training.

Primary producers need to have some concessions and bureaucratic assistance when drought prevails and stock needs to be humanely dispatched, or in the eradication of feral animals and pests or animal eradication during an epidemic of some exotic disease.

Streamlining the firearms procurement process for those licensed shooters that already have firearms registered would be another productive step.

It has taken the six years since the 1996 implementation of stricter firearm laws to get some form of consultation and trust development between the various parties. It is now time to open doors and minds to refine what we have and massage it into something workable, enforceable and fair to all.

I urge you all to get on with it, and get along together, for Australia’s sake.

The author, Ian Prior (commonly known as ‘Herb’), is a recently retired Federal Agent of the Australian Federal Police. He was a principal adviser to Government and the AFP on firearms-related matters, particularly since the APMC gun control issues of the late 1980s through the Government gun control initiatives of 1996 and the more recent Firearms Policy Advisory process to AMPC. He headed the AFP Forensic Firearms and Ballistics as a Detective Superintendent until 1999 when he was seconded to Special Projects overseeing and co-ordinating Forensic Response to the Sydney Olympics, Centenary of Federation Celebrations and CHOGM. Herb is now an independent consultant and author within the field of his expertise.