BY NOW, you will have heard the WA government is planning to cancel all property letters and limit the number of new letters that landowners can give out.
This means that scores of WA shooters might find themselves unable to get a letter – from anyone.
Unless you happen to personally know a property owner, you could find yourself losing your licence. That’s why you can’t afford just to sit back: you need to start taking action.
Why you might not get a property letter
WE ALL KNOW the WA Firearms Act is being rewritten.
Now we hear the government will cancel property letters issued and put a new system in place. They’re saying the current system is being abused but are yet to provide any evidence.
Click here, or the image to the right, to see how this has been reported by the ABC.
THE PROPOSAL includes a limit on the number of letters that can be issued for any one property. We’ve heard estimates of 5 or 10.
That means a LOT of shooters, especially those based in the city, will miss out.
That could mean YOU! So don’t cop it…
STAND UP and help the NSC do its job. We have to do our best to try and stop these changes AND make sure that the politicians who back this, get the message that this will cost them votes.
Shooters in WA MUST get political. At the moment, they’re being walked over, and it’s not hard to see target shooters being their next target.
What the new property letter system means
We know the government is planning to introduce a centralised permit system and limits on letters that can be issued for each property.
This will result in a massive reduction in the number of shooting areas that can be accessed. It’s a cruel version of the Hunger Games by pitting shooter v shooter, that will leave many angry if they can’t get a permit.
Ironically this is one of the pitfalls in having WA not follow the National Firearms Agreement. The NFA isn’t perfect – or even close to it – but it’s a lot better than what shooters have in the west.
Data security - and remember the maps?
There are two concerns here. The first is that more data on farmers and shooters will be put at risk by any failure to manage the data security properly.
The second is that the police minister, Paul Papalia, was happy to provide the media with maps of the location of where licensed shooters live, so it’s not that much of a stretch to imagine that farmers will have their locations mapped too – or that the government will publish more maps showing where shooters live.
That endangers the shooters, their families and people who move to locations where guns used to be kept if the data is out of date.
Shooters in WA are already paying significantly higher costs than shooters in other states, so you have two choices. Move interstate, or get political.
The Power of the National Shooting Council
This is a really nasty time for shooters in the west, but it is crucial that shooters make their voices heard.
Fortunately the National Shooting Council is the platform that allows shooters to collectively fight back. We’ll give you the voice you’ve always wanted.
Click here to join us and send politicians a powerful message – to leave shooters alone! We’ll start notifying our members how we’ll be tackling this shortly.
In fact politicians need to get the message that they need to start supporting shooters if they want to keep their seats.
We want shooting in WA to be easier, cheaper and a lot less bureaucratic than it is now. Getting there just requires us to be able to demonstrate how at a political level.
Join us – and get onto your local MP NOW to let them know you won’t stand for this. Go and make an appointment to see them at their office: that’s what they are there for.
A final word
We’re really unimpressed that this idea has been supported by the Pastoralists and Graziers Association. We recently reported that pastoralists also recommended the five gun limit that the government is proposing. We’ll be sending them a message too, soon enough.
Basically there is no way you can influence the WA government – for those of you who have not been following what has been going on in Canada recently – Canada is doing the same thing as the WA government – the changes to the gun laws went before their parliament recently – 300 members of parliament – 200 voted in favour of the changes – 100 voted against – in Canada they had 100 pro-gun politicians in parliament and they still lost – we have nothing like that – so what can you do? – forget about hunting – keep your guns – always keep your guns – join a target shooting association – never again do anything for WA farmers – as for me – I believe what I see and hear about Australian farmers so from now on I’m not even going to buy Australian produce if there is a cheaper alternative available on the shelves.
This means that scores of WA shooters might find themselves able to get a letter – from anyone
SHOULDN’T IT BE UNABLE .
Yep, a typo that has been fixed. Thanks for pointing that out.
Are WA shooters organising any protests against these laws?
No of cause not , they’re to scared to upset the apple cart in fear of retribution from the police force and the police minister.
There was really hardly a ripple from the latest gun ban in WA .
No public protests , no nothing .
All the organisations reckon they went into bat for the firearm owners and achieved absolutely nothing .
From the ABC story –
“It’s been abused,” Mr McGowan said. “Lots and lots of people in the city have these letters and therefore go and buy guns, and I suspect never set foot on a farm. “So obviously that system needs dramatic reform, and we’re going to dramatically reform it.”
So McGowan “suspects” that shooters are getting around the rules, and it’s therefore “obvious that system needs dramatic reform”. The only thing that’s “obvious” is that WA’s politicians dont need facts to make policy these days.
I am so sick of this attack on legal firearm owners no reason for just politician games for votes