Shooters Urge Victoria to Reject Federal Gun Buyback Ahead of State Election

Victorian shooters have a message for any political parties contemplating an election campaign chase for city votes by signing up for the national gun buyback scheme.Leave us out of it.On Aug. 16, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New South Wales (NSW) Premier Chris Minns announced details of the premier state’s buyback, which will begin in November.At this stage, NSW is the only state participating in Albanese’s national gun buyback which was pledged in the aftermath of the Bondi terror attack.Conservative governments in Queensland, Tasmania and NT are not signing up, South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas pledged not to tighten gun laws ahead of his March election win, while Western Australia has already run its own scheme, with no plans for another.In Victoria, former Premier Jacinta Allan also thumbed her nose at the scheme in a dent to Albanese’s hopes.Then came the curveball of Allan’s resignation last month and her replacement by Ben Carroll, who must find a new policy and political direction if Labor are to retain office after the Nov. 28 election.Sporting Shooters Victorian CEO Jack Wegman said it would be un-Australian for Carroll to take a tougher line on his membership, including firearms caps, which have been implemented in NSW.“I‘d say to him, ’consider a deep-held Aussie value: a fair go, mate,” Wegman told AAP.“There’s been no indication so far in his early days that he’s seeking to do anything with gun caps … but we don’t know what the new premier will do.“He would be denying a fair go for the vast, vast majority of legal gun owners.”Wegman says a gun cap is nonsensical given bigger collections tended to have more secure storage, though that is not a legislated requirement in Victoria.“The more guns you own, the higher requirement to have safe storage … it’s the smaller number of guns that are likely to be stolen and that’s the irony here,” he said.Sporting Shooters are one of a broad range of pro-gun groups that have attacked the post-Bondi reforms at federal and state level, which also includes the coalition and One Nation.Anti-violence organisations such as the Alannah & Madeline Foundation, which welcomed the NSW buyback on Aug. 16, are lobbying states to tighten laws.Wegman was scathing of Albanese, who he accused of politicking in the aftermath of a tragedy, but praised Allan for “not following the knee-jerk response” of Minns.He offered pity for “those poor souls” in NSW which new restrictions, including a reclassification of some weapons taking them mostly off-limits.Earlier this year, Victoria made tweaks to its gun law reforms, which Wegman described as “thoughtful,” while condemned as a light touch by anti-gun violence campaigners.One of the changes, a citizenship requirement for a Victorian firearms licence, was parodied by pro-gun groups as it put Police Commissioner Mike Bush, a New Zealander, in a bind.“He could carry a gun for duty during the day, but he couldn’t have a recreational licence to shoot tin cans out the country,” Wegman chuckled.The final bill allowed a carve-out for New Zealanders.By Ben McKay in Hobart