It is about time that there was a full and frank discussion about out firearms laws “Tasmanian Government agrees to scrutiny on proposed gun laws”. We now have the benefit of 20+ years of hindsight to determine if our 1996 gun laws have achieved anything.

While the continuing rhetoric says that it did, the truth is that we did not ever have a gun problem, we had a Martin Bryant problem. The types of firearms that were banned under the NFA were available to our sportsmen for almost the whole of the twentieth century. It is time to acknowledge that 1 mass shooting in a century in Tasmania is a statistical anomaly and did not justify the laws that were foisted on law abiding citizens.

Part of the dialogue should be – is the public getting value for money on a registry that has not been pivotal in solving one crime in 20+ years. Could Police resources be more productively deployed by not wasting countless man-hours doing safe inspections.

Surely making sure that offenders on bail are observing curfews and chasing criminals would be a wiser use of after-hours police.

The scrutiny on the firearms legislation should be evidence based and the scope should include the recently enacted storage laws where any gun owner who is required to update their security will be financially penalised to a greater degree that a firearm thief. The true deterrent to firearm theft is making sure that firearms thieves who breach a gun safe with a suitable mandatory sentence.

SFFP considers that the proposed 10-year license cycle doesn’t go far enough. It is a waste of public money to scrutinise the same individuals time and again. If a gun owner stops being a fit and proper person they will soon come to the attention of police and that is when they should be scrutinised.

The legalisation of firearm sound suppressors should be considered for all lawful firearm owners. It is nonsense to think that recreational shooters take any less game than farmers and their agents. Use of suppressors in many countries is considered good manners so as to not shatter the peace of the countryside.
Carlo DiFalco, SFFP Tasmania