Under the cover of the Las Vegas tragedy, there are anti-gun loons still pushing for your guns to be banned and your ammo limited under the National Firearms Agreement. We wrote to the Premier in light of the recent lobbying by Gun Control Australia via gunpolicy.org, which your taxes fund through AusAID grants to gunpolicy.org.
Dear Premier
This week, with newspapers full of the terrible Las Vegas tragedy, the AusAID-funded lobbyists at gunpolicy.org decided it would be an opportune time to release ‘research’*, which is a thinly-veiled scorecard on each Australian State’s implementation of the National Firearms Agreement. This is the same bunch that egged you on to commit to banning lever action shotguns with a capacity above 5 rounds.**
With an election approaching, we though we would join the trend of offering you an unsolicited scorecard about your government’s performance on firearms policy. We’ve selected four issues dear to the hearts of the two-hundred thousand voting licensed firearm owners and we offer you a rating.
Criteria 1: Consultation with sporting organisations and dealers before inflicting restrictions on law-abiding shooters.
Performance: Your government dismantled the Ministerial advisory panel and agreed to ban lever action-shotguns without consultation.
Rating: F
Criteria 2: Understanding the needs of regional industries
You have consistently backed the malicious, ill-considered campaign by a handful of desk-bound Police in Qld Weapons Licensing Branch to confiscate firearms from farmers who’ve held and used them safely for decades
Rating: Whatever is below F
Criteria 3: Using technology and data to cut red tape and streamline licensing and regulation
You spent over a million dollars on IT systems for Weapons Licensing Branch. That got us a couple of online application forms but the licenses and permits are still manually processed in an office of 100 people in a manner befitting 1965.
Rating: D
Criteria 4: Getting rid of feral pests causing car accidents
You’ve repeatedly reinforced the fairy story that sound moderators can’t be given to Brisbane City Council. Car accidents are happening every month because of an uncontrollable feral deer population. All the experts agree that suppressors would solve this and that the Councils should have sound suppressors. But your Police Minister still makes up tales about how the National Firearms Agreement bans suppressors (it actually doesn’t mention them).
Rating: E
Shooting is a fast growing sport (over 4% per year in Qld) and the new folks don’t like the victimisation and red tape. We understand you’ve got all sorts of wonderful anti-firearms policies to drop on shooters if you get back into government, like ammunition purchase limits.
There’s no nice way to break this, but you might be about to get kicked out of government for good reason. Maybe you can change your ways on one or two of these issues to ensure you don’t poison a whole generation of new young shooters against Labor. Or you could keep doing what you’re doing.
Yours faithfully,
[Signed]
For LAFO Inc.
* The ‘research’ is lobbying with a hat. Actual research is typically more clearly set out than the rambling cut-and-paste of legislative provisions you’ll find at http://www.gunpolicy.org/documents/6936-firearm-legislation-in-australia-21-years-after-the-national-firearms-agreement/file
** Shotguns with a capacity over five rounds are very safe. It’s the extra round that turns ’em deadly.
