How I Would Change Gun Laws Part 1 – Firearm Categories.
If I had my way we could own one of these - A Ruger 10/22
Gun Laws in Australia always baffle me, they don’t make any sense. So over the next few weeks I will be posting a series of blogs on how I would change gun laws.I will take into consideration real and perceived dangers, public opinion and a lot of other factors.
I thought I would start with Firearm Categories seeing as they make the least amount or sense.
I believe that the vast majority of licensed shooters are honest, hard-working citizens that wish nobody no harm as such, I believe that they should be rewarded when it comes to the firearms you can and cannot own. The following is how I would structure firearm categories. I’m pulling this out of my rear but I believe that it still makes more sense than what we have now and I honestly believe that if the below category changes were implemented we would not see a rise in firearms crime or deaths. I have also taken “Popular Opinion” into consideration which may be why there are some restrictions as opposed to just being able to buy whichever type of firearm you like.
Unrestricted firearms (pending safety course):
Air rifles under 12 ft/lbs of energy: should be available to anybody over the age of 18 to purchase and can be used by minors (with adult supervision). Penalties for misuse of these air rifles should be reasonably harsh. A safety course that can be administered by the gun dealer at regular intervals. The course should be a basic 45minute course on the parts of the airgun and the safety rules of all guns. You must hold the certificate (issued by the dealer like a fishing license is but with the course) to be able to own and shoot a sub 12ft/lb air rifle. The dealer should be free of prosecution if one of the participants of the course is injured or caught doing illegal activity providing the dealer can prove he actually administered the course. (perhaps a video could be taken of the course?).
The reason for this is to encourage shooting sports and responsible firearm handling and use.
Category A Firearms:
Air Rifles 12ft/lbs and above: All air rifles above 12 ft/lbs of energy would be considered a Cat A Firearm.
Rimfire rifles (Including self loading): Obviously most states this is accurate (aside from self loaders). Self loading or Semi auto rimfire rifles should also be in this category as they pose no more risk to society than any other action type.I also believe that magazine capacity should be capped at 15rds for Self Loaders. This is a fair compromise isn’t it?
Shotguns (Other than Self Loading): Double barrel, single shot, bolt action, lever action & pump action shotguns should be category A firearms. It makes no sense why pump action shotguns were restricted in the first place and there definitely was no evidence for it either.
Muzzle Loaders: As per NSW Legislation.
Air Pistols – Air Pistols should be considered Category A firearms due to their low power and uselessness as a weapon.
Category B Firearms:
Self Loading Shotguns: Self loading shotguns with a maximum of 6 shots should be classed as Cat B firearms as opposed to their Category C classification now.
Centrefire Rifles (Excluding Self Loading Firearms)
As per normal, any cartridge can be owned in all actions except for Semi Autos (due to public opinion).
Rimfire Handgun 10 Shot capacity: I see no reason why people who are able to own centrefire rifles could not own a rimfire handgun. Perhaps an additional component in the firearms safety course would have to be added purely to minimise the risk of accidents.
Sound Moderators: Would be considered as a firearm or an additional barrel to an existing firearm. I will write about moderators in a future blog.
Category C Firearms:
Semi Automatic Centrefire Rifles (Max Capacity 5 shots): I see no reason why Semi Auto Centrefire rifles could not be owned by people who are eligible for a Category C Firearm. Of course I’d love to own an AR15 of the like but I am taking the middle ground here.
Category H Firearms (Handguns):
In this category I would like to see a rolling back of handgun laws to pre-2002 where Cat H license holders are able to own an calibre handgun they like.
I would also like to see hunting added as a genuine reason for owning a Handgun (yet another blog).
So there you have it that is the basics on what I would do to firearm categories if I had a choice. I feel that this is reasonable, logical and above all just as safe as what we have now without the bureaucratic BS that we have in place now. Just remember that this is my opinion only and I may be on or off the mark depending on where you stand on gun laws and I don’t expect even every shooter to agree with me.
Feel free to discuss on the above post in the comments section below.
Related posts:
Category: Keith Drain's Column
What to change:
PTA, if I can pay my car insurance/greenslip/rego online why cant I get a PTA online. Dealers (in NSW) can check instantly if your licence is current. Walk into LGS, check licence, dealer does PTA online and out you go with a new toy.
Per the original post:
On the whole seems reasonably sensible however a few things Id see differently. Any pistol on a class A or B is a drama as it is still a concealable weapon. Lets face it how many bank tellers/servo attendants could tell the difference between an air pistol and a glock.
If we are being freely honest in this forum there are quite a few people that have A/B licences that dont rate very highly and dont shoot often. Go to any SSAA range in Feb/Mar and watch all the so called ‘members’ try to get their four range visits in. They use the SSAA as their genuine reason but have no desire/ability to attend the range during the rest of the year.
I like the idea of a sound moderator if it was registered say as an extra barrel, with a serial number etc.
Your comment on Cat C semi auto is valid but only farmes/full time shooters can get a cat C at the moment. I would like to see cat C available to hunters/target shooters with some sensible restrictions.
Why cant we have semi auto matches, rapid fire rimfire, tactical style, semi auto shotgun events. I think the process to get a cat C should be then a little stricter than an A/B.
I think pistols still need fairly tight control (not as tight as now) but there are a lot of ‘wannabies’ out there. I work in a gun shop and let me say there are heaps of people that come in and want to get a pistol, but dont want to join a pistol club, dont want to hunt, they just want to have one to play with or pat or perhaps play ‘taxi driver’ in the mirror.
I guess to sum up, I believe the laws do need some streamlining but not everyone who has a licence are dedicated people like we meet on hunt and shoot and ausvarmits.
I tend to agree with some of Greg’s points. Pistols should remain harder to get – there are alot of less committed people out there.
Of all that is out there, I’d really like to see the ability to legally own and fit suppressors to some of my rifles. It will simply make them easier to use for their intended purpose of making feral animals dead.
Perhaps you are right Greg & Adam.
I would like to be able to holster a handgun for hunting though. I would jump through the hoops to do so as well but its not worth owning a handgun as it is now.
I don’t have a huge problem with the current categories. They seem to put everything in the right places.
The two thing that i don’t agree with are:
1. I think sound moderators should be more obtainable, be it by safety course and registration.
2. I think catergory C should be more obtainable, with the genuine reason of hunting and target use. Maybe on a probation system hold Cat A&B for 12months without any issue.
I think a happy medium between Australian Gun Laws, UK Gun Laws and NZ Gun Laws. That would cover pretty much everything, just needs a good mix and match.
Or just copy and paste NZ gun laws. They seem to have the right balance.
I tend to agree with all comments so far. I think our current gun laws especially more recent changes relating to handguns were very “Knee Jerk”.
I would not like to see Australia go down the path of the US (I think we’re pretty safe there
), however I do agree with your thoughts on Handgun Hunting… Maybe if it could be a supplementary genuine reason for Cat. H licence (Still requiring membership and active participation with registered Pistol Club)…
Guess we just need people in government with similar views and who were prepared to take action on it… Doubt it will ever happen though
In regards to this part (part 1) you say make Cat C have only 5 shots, I would politely ask you to consider changing that to 8 shots so as not to rule out the M1 Garand if anyone were to implement your ideas. Otherwise I totally agree with you.
Interesting post, Keith.
I myself do support rolling back the 1996 and 2002 gun laws and I support seeing licenced, law-abiding recreational hunters and target shooters being able to legally own all semi-auto longarms and pump-action shotguns. These laws made no impact on making Australia safer or affect the pre-1996 decline in violence (both firearm and non-firearm). In regards to magazine capacity for semi-auto centrefire rifles, make the capacity up to 10 rounds. Ten is a good and even number, not to mention that it is still the current magazine limit for all longarms.
Alan,
If you do your research, the gun crime rates in the US are not as bad as what our pollies and media make it out to be. In fact, gun crime rates are at an all-time low in the US over the past couple of years due to many American states having lassiez-faire gun laws and over 40 American states having Carry Concealable Weapons (CCW) legislation on the books which allow law-abiding American citizens to carry a handgun for self-defence under licence. The parts of the US that have bad gun crimes are the states and cities e.g. Chicago/Cook County region and Washington D.C. that have restrictive gun laws, especially on handguns.
In closing, we (as in all law-abiding firearm owners of Australia) should work hard to convince the public that rolling back these bans won’t result in a Hobbesian free-for-all (something that the anti-gunners, the media, politicans and former PM John Howard went to great lengths to instill into the Australian people’s psyche since 1996). If we don’t do it, the antis will continue to stomp us at every opportunity.
I agree with all of your points because they all are common sense, seems it’s not all that common these days though….
I support the afore mentioned graduated scheme, whilst I have no issues changing to to a three level scheme (although I agree that the magazine capacity should be 10 for the centrefire semi-auto rifles) I also support that the fact is there should be a graduated scheme whereby you get cat a (or a/b) and have to sit at that for a pre-determained period, lets say 5 years at which point you can apply for and recieve a licence for cat c weapons (which is now the semi-auto centrefire w/ 10 round max) provided you have done the appropriate saftey training for their use.
I would also remove the ability for police commisionars to simply ban a rifle/shotgun/whatever simply because it looks like something else (i.e. the Vector pump gun)
Australia and NewZealand are culturally similar , more so than any other two nations , it seems to me that if NewZealanders can legally own semi-auto long arms with the correct licences , why cant Australians ?
I rekon there should be a three month period that includes a background check , a psychological examination and saftey training.
If after three months the authorities are happy that this person is mentally stable and not a criminal then they should be allowed to safely own a semi-auto long arm.
When it comes to magazine capacity , I dont see the point in restrictions on legal magazines , since criminals can modify or obtain higher capacities.
Also when it comes to a criminal with a 10 round magazine firearm Vs unarmed people , they will kill/wound as many as they would with a 10+ , magazines can be changed in a split second or even dual wielding firearms increases firepower.
What our law makers should be focusing on is stopping unstable people from harming people , not banning tools or sports equipment because unstable people or criminals use them to kill or commit crime.
Cars kill more and have always killed more people in Australia than guns , yet we still have under 18 year olds behind V-8′s.
Firearms wont harm or kill anyone , its unstable people like verifiable nutjobs such as Martin Bryant that do.
Brilliant post Dan. I agree wholeheartedly.
I do like your ideas here.
One thing I would like to change with the current category system is that if you can legally own and use a firearm for one genuine reason you should be able to use it for another genuine reason. For example in my case, I have two genuine reasons for my licence (NSW) Primary producer and Rec hunting&vermin control. I have Cat A,B&C for PP and Cat A&B for Rec Hunting. I cannot use my Cat C firearms (an auto shotgun and auto rimfire) for Rec hunting as it is not a genuine reason for a cat C firearm, so I am forced to buy 2 extra firearms (a cat A shotgun and rimfire) for when I am rec hunting. Semm counter intuative to me.
why cant self defence be put down as a “genuine reason” oh yeah because Australia is a police state and we are helpless
You have to realise that firstly the Feds have an anti gun agenda which they in turn force onto the states, so to those of us that own and use firearms legally will never understand the stance that any government takes against law abiding gun owners.
I don’t think there should any genuine reason. If you apply for a gun license and the cops issue it then that should be all the genuine reason you need.
Next categories. L for Long arms, P for pistols and R for anything else the government wants to call a weapon, like pepper spray and batons etc.
I think when the house is unoccupied all firearms should unloaded and secured. If the house is occupied i.e. you’re home then the only rule is that the firearms should not be able to accessed by unlicensed people or minors.
We need a law change to allow people to protect their lives and property from unlawful acts, i.e. trespass, break and enters, assaults etc.
Do away with long arm registration and PTA’s. If you have the license for a long arms then all you should have to do it go to the gun store, order the firearm and wait a week. In that week the gun store are required by law to advise your state licensing branch. If there is an issue then that sale is blocked. Blocked sales should be subject to appeal to an independent agency.
I can guarantee you that most cops have no issues with law abiding citizens owning and using firearms. What the various state governments are doing is using the police as a big stick to make owning a gun expensive and chockers with red tape. To make society safer! NO… to make it difficult and unattractive to own them… Also most cops will admit they have little or no chance of effectively protecting the citizens of any state. We have 10 000 cops in Qld and if that number was increased to 50 000 they still couldn’t get to your place in time to save your life! At least US governments recognise and accept that fact and extend the right to protect your self to each and every law abiding citizen.
Government protection that be summed up like this: : “if your life is in danger and you have the time to call 000, the cops will turn up in time to draw a chalk like around you”
let me add to the above comment. After the Feds, the state government the next biggest threat to our freedoms is the media. Firearms are and have always been a guaranteed sensational story that sell airtime, news papers etc. It doesn’t matter if what they report is the truth so long as it’s sensational.
A lot of people sight the US as a reason for not allowing gun ownership. Well if you could let me put those “gun deaths” ithat the media and organisations like GCA, love to use as a reason for banning firearms into perspective. The vast majority of gun deaths in the US are as a result of ILLEGAL activities not law abiding citizens. Banning firearms as little or no impact on the illegal/criminal use of weapons, whether that’s firearms, knives or baseball bats. The next 2 influences on those figures are suicides (while they are regrettable if someone wants to take their life, access to firearms won’t make their mind up to do it), and people protecting their life and property. Now the media never break down those figures, well lets face it, that would detract from the sensationalism…. the next category is accidents and while I think the US has good guns laws their inability to force people to store their firearms safely and responsibly leaves a lot to be desired and finally deaths as a result of law enforcement.
I live and worked in the US for a few years and I can tell you that even with the crime, I still felt safer than I do here in Brisbane. I lived in a “safe” area (no area is totally free of crime) but even so I was never at home without a loaded 12Ga and I always carried a loaded 40cal when I was out. While that might seem paranoid, I never really stressed about being out in public and before someone says that a gun gives you a false sense of security and it leads to people taking risks. I can assure you I still read the situation and kept away from risky situations.
We do not have a level playing field on this subject and I doubt we ever will.