NSW shooters must act now to head off efforts by state Premier Chris Minns to introduce knee-jerk gun laws in a rushed recall of parliament — or we risk having dire gun laws signed, sealed and delivered before Christmas.
As Minns works to recall parliament, it is vital we flood our local members of parliament with letters urging them not to support a knee-jerk reaction that will implement draconian, undemocratic laws, all without consideration of due process, evidence or need.
If MPs from any party see a surge in correspondence about the topic, they will be aware that there are large numbers of votes at stake, and this will heavily influence their decisions.
This link contains a list of all contact details for NSW members of parliament.
If you do not know which NSW electorate you are in, look here.
Two NSW parliamentary epetitions have been started: Click here to sign the Legislative Council petition now! and click here to sign the Legislative Assembly petition now! There is also a Change.org petition running here.
TIPS FOR WRITING TO YOUR MP
Include your name, full address (which shows them that you are in their electorate) and a contact phone number.
Keep the latter reasonably short and to the point.
Introduce yourself, state why you are writing, and explain your concerns.
Naturally, be polite and respectful. This is personal communication, not an online vent!
WHAT TO SAY
I am not going to provide a sample letter because writing in your own words is always the most effective and impactful form of communication. Form letters are of little value, making up numbers rather than suggesting the sender cares deeply — deeply enough to vote on it. (The Australian Recreation Union, however, has a good sample letter available here.)
Include some of the follow points, expanding on them to explain why they matter. Pick the ones you can best write about, and add your own if you like. There’s no need to cover them all, because other people will likely cover the ones you don’t.
The main discussion points are:
- NSW (and Australia in general) does not have a problem with its firearms legislation, which is not weak and is held up by many, including the anti-gun lobby, as the gold standard.
- Gun crime is statistically tiny in NSW and driven by criminal networks, not licensed firearms owners.
- Existing legislation allows police to remove firearms and revoke licenses from anyone deemed not fit and proper to possess firearms.
- The fact that the terrorists had firearms is a failure of security and policing, not of existing laws. Australian security knew both men had attended military-style training overseas in November.
- The Bondi Beach attack was a terrorist act in which they also had bombs that could have been utilised if the firearms where not present. No laws would have stopped their attack.
- Rushed legislation is never good legislation.
- WA’s legislation has numerous Henry VIII clauses, a very undesirable and undemocratic aspect in any legislation.
- Limits on the number of firearms someone can own do not improve public safety; no evidence says they do. A person can only use one firearm at a time anyway. On the other hand, the various calibres, firearms types, day/night use and a host of other factors inform the view that in many cases it is necessary to have a number of firearms to perform the very varied tasks they must be put to.
- Voters recognise that the focus on firearm laws is a cynical diversion from the broader issues of racism and terrorism, which should be front-of-mind in parliament’s considerations.
Signed letters are great (but snail mail is slow, so make it a PDF and email it). Straight emails are the next best bet.
Whatever you choose to do, DO IT NOW! Minns is moving as we speak and must be stopped.
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