Shooters Party aiming for reforms

On Tuesday Robert Borsak, Shooters and Fishers Party MLC, introduced the Firearms Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 into the NSW Upper House.

The bill primarily reduces registration and record keeping requirements of range owners and weapons retailers, as well as allowing for the ownership of long arm weapons with revolving ammunition cylinders.

For those of you who are not fans of spaghetti westerns, these guns have the advantage of being able to deliver multiple loads to one barrel in quick succession (i.e you can kill things more quickly).

Mr Borsak stated in his second reading speech that Police concerns that people would be able to shoot at a faster rate was mitigated by the fact that these weapons were “single action” meaning that you had to pull the hammer after each shot.

To achieve this, the amending bill removes item 8 from Schedule 1 of the Firearms Act 1996 (NSW) which states:

A firearm, not being a pistol, of the Uberti or Armi-Jager brands, or any similar firearm fitted with a revolving ammunition cylinder (other than a firearm manufactured before 1920).

There is no mention of single or double action (the latter not requiring the shooter to pull the hammer in between shots) in this section. There is however, a catch all item in the Schedule which prohibits:

Any machine gun, sub-machine gun or other firearm capable of propelling projectiles in rapid succession during one pressure of the trigger.

The Premier ruled out a deal with the Shooters in April, but back then, they wanted to hunt in Natural Parks.

Given that the Shooters supported Mr O’Farrell’s bitterly contested IR reform bill in the Upper House and their now more tempered requests, the Government may change their position.

Now the real question is, what does the Government give Fred Nile in return for his support of the IR Bill?  

Subscribers to our LawOne and Law Tracker products will be able to follow this proposed legislation as it passes into law.

Not a subscriber? then make it easy to track Australian legislation relevant to your area of legal expertise by becoming a subscriber. Contact us for full pricing information or to trial the service free for a limited time.