Politics/Legislation

How do I lobby my politician | Contact your politician | Regulation info and lnks

Due to massive efforts by a strongly anti gun Prime Minister, aided by State leaders who were either simply following his lead or were also actively anti gun in nature, we find ourselves in a shocking situation in Australia in regards to firearms ownership and usage.

Firearms owners have been openly discriminated and vilified in ways that if we were an ethnic group or a gender based group would have been totally illegal under the anti discrimination laws. But it has been deemed acceptable to rubbish some of the finest, most responsible members of this nation.

In many other nations governments are now reforming firearms regulations, realizing that they were not working and were unfair and discriminatory impositions on the civil and human rights of their citizens.

Canada recently elects new government committed to eliminating long arm registration and reforming firearms laws.
Brazilian voters overwhelmingly reject a referendum to ban firearms.
Italy amends legislation to allow ownership of firearms for personal and property protection.
New Zealand discarded long arm registration after more than 40 years.
More than 40 states in the USA have reformed some type of firearms legislation in a positive way in the past decade, with more than 8,000,000 new firearms sold in the US each year during that time, violent crime has now fallen each year for 15 years straight and is now at levels not seen since the early 1960’s.
The UK authorities are now openly admitting that their total handgun ban did not work and that gun crime has actually risen since this move.

No longer will that be so, we intend to stand up, and we encourage you to also stand up, when you see or hear anti gun rubbish either from politicians or in the media, contact them, tell them how you feel. Imagine the impact of hundreds of thousands of people reacting negatively each time this occurred?

For all their bluster, politicians are only ever interested in 2 things;

Getting elected or re elected.
Getting into government or staying in government (as in not being in opposition).

Therefore if they believe there is enough heat to get them either elected or thrown out over an issue they will generally rethink their position. In theory they are there to represent you and the electorate which they represent, however in practice they are really representing the interests of whichever party they owe allegiance to and what the electors think is of small importance compared to pleasing their party room masters.

This makes it challenging at times as they will hide behind party policy and still try and keep you happy with comments like “I agree with you in principle, but I can’t change party policy….”

Do not ever buy this, your local member is responsible to you so let them know what you want in terms of legislative reform and what your response will be if they do not agree.

Your response should be to;

Vote against them at the next election.
Ask all family members and friends and fellow shooters to do the same.
Actively campaign against anti gun politicians.
Find an alternate candidate who agrees with your position and vote for them
Consider actively campaigning for another candidate.

Always be polite when dealing with your local member, you should treat them with respect but be firm and let them know they will lose your vote (or gain it).

HOW DO I LOBBY MY POLITICIAN?

There is a simple process thanks to the internet and Shooters Union, just follow the steps below whenever you see potentially bad legislation being proposed or when you want to act to cause reform in the present unfair and repressive firearms laws, or indeed if you ever feel you have been treated unfairly by the various firearms regulatory authorities in each state (your local member is paid to represent you).

Action Steps

Click on your state below and then you will see a list of all the contact details for your local representative, once you have gotten those details.
Send him or her an email asking about the issue you are concerned with and what their position is etc. keep it fairly brief and polite.
Write a letter (same or similar wording to the email) and post it to them, why do this as well? It has more effect just like advertising messages repeated have more effect than seeing them once, and since the advent of email politicians get less letters so it may stand out.
Contact their office by phone and ask for an appointment to discuss the matter.
Contact all your shooting friends and ask them to also email and contact their politicians as well.
If you are a member of a decent size local club or organisation ask the politician to come along and listen to your views.

Be prepared to initially be ignored and trivialized, many politicians are now convinced that shooters are an easy mark, that you will just quietly accept being treated as a third class citizen.

By being consistent and constantly raising the issue and encouraging others to do the same, you let them know that the issue of personal freedom and firearm ownership is coming back and they need to treat you with respect and hear your views een if they do not agree with you.

Always remain polite, abusing politicians is tempting at times, but just as none of us like to be abused, neither do they. If we are seeking respect and change we need to be resolute and polite, let them see shooters are some of the best people in their electorate.

Understand that almost none of your local members (unless they are shooters) have any idea of the mass of discriminatory and unneeded regulation you have to wade through. Educate them and you may win them over when they see the whole picture.

Become educated yourself, look through the GREAT LINKS section of this site and look at differing views on firearms issues from around the world. Far from the anti gunners winning every battle, many nations are reforming their firearm laws after realizing they were not working and were unjust impositions on the personal civil rights of their citizens.

Contact your Politician

QUEENSLAND

Queensland Members of Parliament

Queensland Ministers

NEW SOUTH WALES

NSW Members of Parliament

NSW Upper House members

NSW Ministers

VICTORIA

Victoria Members of Parliament

Victoria Upper House Members

Victoria Ministers

TASMANIA

Tasmanian Members of Parliament

Tasmanian Upper House Members

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

South Australian Members of Parliament both Upper & Lower houses

SA Ministers

WEST AUSTRALIA

WA Members of Parliament

Upper House

NORTHERN TERRITORY

NT Members of Parliament

NT Ministers

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

ACT Members of Parliament

FEDERAL POLITICIANS

Federal Member of Parliament and Federal Senators

Firearm Regulations

In Australia all firearms legislation (other than importation etc.) is regulated by the states. The federal government has since 1996 force the general direction if firearms legislation by essentially bullying the states into adopting “uniform” (read similar but still differing I each state) firearms legislation “suggested by the Federal Government.

They do this by offering extra funding (the carrot) or threatening to withhold certain funding (the stick) and as they control the tax dollars it has been an effective strategy on many issues other than firearms laws. It is of course a distortion of the intent of the Australian Constitution, but one that is widely accepted by the major political parties.

So we have put together a list of all the States and Territories below and by clicking on the name of your state below you can view the official and exact information for each state.

Generally speaking In All states and territories you need a firearms license before you can legally own a firearm (including airguns) licenses are broken down into categories based on the type of firearms you wish to own and use.

Category A firearms: Rimfire and Shotguns (non semi auto or pump in the case of shotguns).

Category B firearms: Centrefire and black powder rifles (non semi auto).

Category C Firearms: Semi auto rimfire rifles and semi auto and pump action shotguns

Category D Firearms: Semi Auto Centrefire rifles (and shotguns with a capacity of more than 5 rounds).

Category H Firearms: Handguns of all types fall into this category, and they are also broken down into sub groups with additional restrictions on hanguns over .38 calibre.

Category A& B are the most commonly held firearms, with licenses issued for recreation, shooting club, collecting and occupational usage.
Category H firearms licenses are issues for pistol club use as well as rural production and security companies as well as collector licenses.
Category C firearms licenses are less common and generally only issued for trural occupational use or collecting.
Category D firearm licenses are rare and issued only under strict guidelines to rural producers generally.
It is interesting to note that currently none of the states will normally issues firearm licenses for Personal or Property protection, as it is not considered a “Genuine reason” to own a firearm, strange really as that would seem the ultimate “genuine reason” if you think about it. Self defense is allowed under the laws of all states and yet the states will not allow people to use it as a reason to issue a firearms license. Curious logic.

That is very much only a thumbnail sketch and we recommend you carefully review the regulations in your state. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to knowing your rights and responsibilities under the various state laws governing firearms ownership and usage. Be well informed and understand how the system works, then you can work to change it if you feel it is not fair.

QUEENSLAND:
http://www.police.qld.gov.au/programs/weaponsLicensing/

NEW SOUTH WALES:
http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/community_issues/firearms

VICTORIA:
http://www.police.vic.gov.au/content.asp?Document_ID=111

SOUTH AUSTRALIA:
http://www.sapolice.sa.gov.au/sapol/services/firearms_weapons.jsp

WEST AUSTRALIA:
http://www.police.wa.gov.au/Services/FirearmsandWeapons.asp?Firearms

TASMANIA:
http://www.police.tas.gov.au/permits/firearms

NORTHERN TERRITORY:
http://www.nt.gov.au/pfes/police/services/firearms/index.html

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY:
http://www.afp.gov.au/act/firearms