WA Police Minister Paul Papalia has blamed a lack of awareness about his new gun laws on shooting organisations, saying it was up to them to communicate news of shotgun magazine restrictions and bans on lever-release and button-release firearms to shooters in the state.
As Sporting Shooter reported in the last fortnight, shooters in WA with those guns have been receiving letters informing them that they had to make them compliant by 31 March or their licenses would become invalid.
The letters came as a shock to most recipients, not only because of the confusing messaging regarding licence transitions, but due to a reduced awareness among shooters who don’t spend time online.
Mr Papalia was quoted in an article from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation rejecting the idea that this lack of awareness about the lever-release firearms ban was in any way the fault of the WA Government or WAPOL.
He went further, saying he believed it was up to shooting associations to communicate the details of the restrictions to shooters, further saying shooting organisations had been “actively involved” in the consultations during the development of the restrictions.
“Information has been conveyed … and not necessarily passed beyond that meeting. And that’s not the responsibility of the police,” Mr Papalia said.
“It’s the people who are claiming to represent the firearms community. They haven’t been passing on information.”
The major shooting organisations in Western Australia have all been vocal about the lack of consultation and involvement with the development of the new laws and regulations.
Mr Papalia’s comments also do not appear to take into account the fact the majority of WA’s 89,000 firearms licence holders are not members of a shooting organisation.
Nationals WA leader Shane Love did not hold back in his contempt for Mr Papalia’s comments, openly calling the Police Minister “incompetent and deceptive”, and calling the bans “government-sanctioned theft” in a Facebook post on 28 February.
“Labor has once again blindsided WA firearms owners with new, last-minute regulations, showing utter contempt for responsible, law-abiding West Australians,” he said.
“At no point did Labor indicate rapid-release or push-button firearms would be banned.
“WA Police were licensing these firearms as recently as January yet now they’re banned without compensation, leaving businesses in financial crisis.
“Labor has warned dealers that if these firearms aren’t removed from their stores by the end of March, they will lose their dealer’s licence.
“This is government-sanctioned theft. Businesses are stuck with inventory they can’t sell, move or return.”
Mr Love also called out suggestions from Mr Papalia that owners sell their now-banned guns in other jurisdictions as “beyond ridiculous”, and said a flood of unwanted firearms had destroyed their value.
WA’s existing laws regarding firearms shipping also make it impractical to send firearms to other states — it is understood to cost around $300 to ship a single rifle or handgun out of WA.
Western Australian Firearms Community Alliance (WAFCA) spokesman Paul Fitzgerald reiterated in an interview on Radio 6PR Perth there had been no consultation with the shooting community over the bans, pointing out there were believed to be between 7000 and 10,000 lever/button release firearms licensed in WA — and that WAPOL had been licensing them for years, including after the new regulations had first been released.
“We’re a bit sick and tired of this doubling down from the Police Minister in the politicising of firearm regulation in Western Australia,” he said.
“Why has the Minister ignored us? And I don’t care how many times he gets on the media and says ‘we consulted’, because [he] didn’t.
“He [the Police Minister] did not consult. He kicked us down to the police, and they’re [WAPOL] not very good at consulting in this instance.”
Shooters Union Western Australia state advocate Steve Harrison said the organisation had not been consulted at all about anything relating to the new laws or regulations, and had been shocked about the contents when the regulations were released.
“Despite asking to be involved, weren’t haven’t been included in any consultations or discussions about the specifics of the new firearms laws,” he said.
“We found out about the bans at the same time as everyone else — a couple of days before Christmas. You can’t tell me that wasn’t a deliberate choice to release them then.
“It disgusts me how Papalia keeps being given free rein to say things in the media that are demonstrably untrue and/or incredibly ignorant, and he’s not being held to account over it.
“It’s setting an incredibly dangerous precedent and I really hope the 4WD and fishing communities are taking note of this, because they’re likely to be experiencing it themselves in the future, too.”
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