IN MID APRIL, several News Limited papers ran multiple stories obviously fed to it by our famous ‘gun control researchers’ who used the 25th anniversary of Port Arthur to argue that the states have been dragging their feet on the National Firearms Agreement.
The stories were a hatchet job by News which failed to provide any ‘balance’, so the NSC got to work with the Herald Sun where most if not all of the problems with this began.
The result of our discussions with the paper was an offer of a guaranteed Letter to the Editor. We rejected that given the prominence of the article and fact they were repeated in other publications – but were able to get a spot in today’s paper.
Here it is:
The offer doesn’t quite undo the damage, but we’re hopeful that the message we have sent is clear that no debate can be done properly if only one side is listened to.
The size of the article did not permit us to address everything – such as the claims about suppressors – so we picked those that we thought would fit in on this occasion.
We also know many of you hate the fact we have the NFA and think it should be scrapped – but what we’re saying is that if you want to regulate firearms, you need to do it our way, not ‘theirs’ – and it starts with listening to us.
We’re working on similar resolutions with the other papers that were involved in this.
Good article in the paper.
We now need this message to get circulated via any means available.
Good article with no over the top emotional preaching. Yes we want our semi auto’s back, suppressors, no appearance laws and the list goes on. Small steps, well balanced arguments and unity in our sport will get changes made.
What a welcome breath of fresh air !!!
At last, some of the facts that the clueless and heavily one sided “Gun Control Researchers” have been trying to keep out of the sight of the general public . For too long these researchers have been working on the idea (I won’t call it a principle !) of “Never let the facts stand in the way of a sensational (wrong) opinion.”
I beg you ! – Please keep up the good work !!!!!
About time we had a sensible article about our sport. Without the NSC we would not be seeing articles like this one that does throw a positive light in our direction. There’s still a long way to go but with the likes of pete and Neil at the helm we’ll get there. Well done guys..
Good piece Peter. Would that we could get more out there like this. If only the media would try and seek balanced reportage.
Keep up the good work.
I read the article. Police have no business at all regulating firearms, which implies that anyone applying for a firearms licence just might have criminal intent. Can’t people see how offensive that is ??? We are citizens, not suspects. Orders to police should come from citizens via representatives called politicians, but unfortunately something got inverted.
Awesome work Peter. Getting an opinion piece published depends on who the opinion editor is at the time, you have lucked out this time. Keep plugging away, hopefully you are able to change minds
An excellent outcome that an opinion piece was able to be submitted and printed in the media although I wouldn’t mind betting that it didn’t receive the same sort of prominence in display on the website as the original article.
Small wins where they can be won is better than none at all.
Well done to the NSC!
Hmmm… A couple of inaccuracies in the article unfortunately….
A national database registry of firearms being created and then dropped and being proposed again is not quite right. That national database already exists and is being fed data from all states. This is indisputable fact and any official who denies it is a liar.
Yes, your data is out there and being sent to Canberra without your permission.
Well, the NOUS group examined the proposal in the 2000s but went nowhere. The feds will track all imports but they work with the state registries in giving the approvals necessary to import – B309s I think they’re called?