Moves to implement the toughest firearm controls in Australia have been met with accusations that it is nothing more than a smokescreen for weak action on high crime rates and cost of living problems.
On Feb. 14, the Western Australian (WA) Labor government announced a new ban on high-powered firearms able to fire over long distances and capable of piercing armour plating.
Under the ban, 56 types of firearms and 19 calibres of ammunition will become illegal. This means 248 licenced firearms will be banned and must be disposed of by July 1, 2023.
The state will fund a “buyback” scheme to purchase the weapons from legal owners.
“While they remain in our community, these weapons are vulnerable to falling into the wrong hands, and the consequences could be devastating.”
While the laws will target legal owners, the number of weapons on the “grey market” or undeclared still remains high.
The WA government’s move comes after the discovery of an underground bunker storing high-calibre weapons.
‘No Practical Effect’ on Crime: Federal MP
Member for Moore Ian Goodenough, himself a gun owner, said the ban was “academic and arbitrary” in nature.“Things like the calibre restrictions are not going to have any practical effect on the public’s safety,” he told The Epoch Times, while speaking at the Western Australian Firearms Community Alliance in Perth—a meeting to bring together gun owners and industry experts.
“Some of the other reforms, such as tightening up the rules on reloading and minor modifications to firearms, have no practical effect because licensed firearm owners are generally law-abiding.”
Goodenough said the WA Labor government was actually struggling to deal with police recruitment and retention, and in turn, this was impacting its ability to deal with crime.
“[Also] the way that society has gone is that the police force is often tied up looking at domestic violence and alcohol and drug-related issues. Their clearance rates for solving and attending to crime scenes are getting longer. So the public is getting a bit of dissatisfaction from not having prompt attendance [to crimes],” he said.
“I think the main issue is the drug problem that’s out of control. There’s so much meth and cocaine in all the suburbs and [the police] are getting record seizures,” he added. “That’s what’s causing social issues.”
Goodenough said gun owners were the “weak link” and an easy target for visible government action.
Pastoralist Says Ban Will Hamstring Pest Control Efforts
Jim West of the WA Farmers Federation said long-range weapons were critical for farmers to deal with pests.“Sometimes you need different firearms. I interviewed a farmer who has a camel problem out in station country. He has to get too close to them and he'd love a more high-powered rifle so he won’t have to get close,” he said.
“[On our property] we had over 100 foxes reduced, there was a number of feral pigs and cats which destroy the local marsupials—things that you really want to save.”
Australia has some of the world’s largest feral animal populations—partly due to the lack of large land predators and a smaller human population.
The country is estimated to contain 400,000 wild horses, five million donkeys, 150,000 water buffalo, 1.7 million foxes, one million camels (the largest population in the world), and 24 million feral pigs—in comparison, the United States contains six million feral pigs.
West said the government should focus on dealing with the criminal population.
“They have lost their focus in reducing crime in many ways,” he said. “People nowadays should respect the police, but I think they’ve lost that because there are no local policemen. They don’t get to know them.”
Meanwhile, Stuart Ostle from the Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers Party, said the firearms community had become the “poster child” of a government seeking re-election.
“I think people are coming to terms with the fact that it’s no longer a ship that is steered with public consultation; the government’s now just doing what it wants to do,” he said.
