Western Sydney MP calls for gun buy back

In yet another attack on law-abiding gun owners, Prospect state Labor MP Hugh McDermott has called for a gun buyback scheme to keep the streets safe. In this article in the Daily Telegraph, McDermott said that the increase in gun ownership was “a real problem” in western Sydney and warned of a Port Arthur-type massacre if something is not done to get guns off the streets.

Dr McDermott also spoke on radio (hear the interview HERE) and said a buyback scheme, similar to that implemented by John Howard in 1996, was needed. In a move apparently sparked by an incident in which a shot was fired through a packed Indian restaurant in Harris Park last month, McDermott said he planned to target both illegal and legalfirearms.

“In the seat of Prospect, gun ownership has increased 20 per cent in the last 12 months,” he said. “For people to have handguns, to have sniper rifles and semi-automatic weapons, there’s no need for it, and it should be opposed.

“I think it’s time for something like that (Howard’s buy back) again. There was no tolerance for gun crime, where, as now, it’s become more relaxed,” Dr McDermott said. “We really need to police it far more than it is.”

If people did want to own guns they should not be kept in the home, but securely at a firing range, Dr McDermott said.

“For me, the big question is what will it take for the government to act to solve the gun problem?” he said. “Will it take a Port Arthur-style massacre in western Sydney?”

For his part, Shooters and Fishers Party MLC Robert Borsak said that McDermott was just chasing a cheap headline. “No criminal would hand-in their firearms. This will only penalise law-abiding shooters who are safe and sane, unlike Mr McDermott who is equating us to the madman Monis.”

“McDermott is still a trainee MP and we’ll have a chat with his bosses about his insensitivity.”