The Greens wish list: ban hunting, 1 gun limit, single-shots only

The NSW Greens want the Minns Government’s new guns laws to ban recreational hunting, make magazine-fed rifles Cat C or D weapons, and limit ownership to a single rifle. 

The Greens, who are closely aligned with the anti-gun lobby, are spruiking the lobby’s 10-point plan for a near complete ban on firearms, and they may get it approved if they end up holding the key to the Minns Government’s success in enacting new gun laws.

Greens MP Sue Higginson has told Premier Chris Minns and Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane that they are prepared to provide “tripartisan” support for “tough, world-leading gun laws”.

She also said, “Now is the time to heed the advice of experts, advocates and survivors and rule out recreational hunting as a genuine reason to own a firearm.”

If the Coalition does not vote in favour of Minns’ legislation next week, the Greens may have the crucial votes to get the laws over the line, in which case they may be able to force amendments that are even worse than what Minns proposes.

The Greens are champions of the so-called “10-point plan” for draconian firearm legislation. It was put together by the Australian Gun Safety Alliance and is:

1. Banning of recreational hunting on the basis that “the use of firearms for enjoyment” is not justified. “If a firearm is not required for genuine occupational need, primary production, or tightly regulated professional use, the user should not be licensed,” it says.
2. Further restrict high-capability firearms including those with magazines and rapid-reload capability. “For example,” it says, “centrefire rifles and lever-action shotguns with magazines must be reclassified as Category C or D.”
3. End metropolitan home storage of privately owned firearms because “firearms are lethal weapons, not household items”. With no recreational hunters, there would only be target shooters, and their firearms would have to be “stored exclusively in accredited club armouries”.
4. A limit of one gun per person.
   We would have “no more than the minimum number of firearms that is necessary for [our] licensed purpose. The overwhelming majority of firearms users should only require a single firearm.”
5. Ban under-18s from shooting. “There is no public benefit in this other than creating a new generation of firearm enthusiasts,” they claim.
6. “Introduce robust, renewable licensing.” The anti-gun lobby claims firearms licences are a “set-and-forget” proposition, despite expiry dates and the existing abilities of police review and revoke licenses. We would agree generally that “fit and proper person assessments should be strengthened with risk-based checks and mandatory security reviews informed by criminal intelligence,” but we do not trust the anti-gun lobby to propose a fair and equitable model for it, given their overall agenda. 
7. Establish national reporting and oversight
   “Create a national firearms monitoring institute to collect and publish consistent data, evaluate firearm harms and oversee compliance across jurisdictions. This body should be independently funded, including through a levy on firearm clubs and licensing systems.”
8. Ban try-shooting days under controlled circumstances at ranges.
9. Ban political donations from the firearm industry, a move that would ultimately cut funding for those politicians and parties that do support the shooting sports.
10. Establish a National Firearms Safety Council. The inclusion of the “safety” in the title hints at the anti-gun lobby’s desire to ensure the shooting sports do not get a voice in any such council. Similar councils and committees have existed in the past and exist now, such as the NSW Firearms Registry Consultative Committee, chaired by a police assistant commissioner and populated with pro- and anti-gun people, among others.

Higginson, who is the Greens spokesperson on justice, has played the racism card in her attack on shooters, and raised the spectre of ‘American gun culture’, a common scare tactic.

“It is very concerning that the gun lobby and their allies are using racism to obfuscate the failures of gun control and laws in this moment, which is exactly what we see in America,” she said.

She did not give examples of when or where this might have happened.