Gun owners feel victimised by new WA firearms laws, touted as 'toughest' in the country
Gun owners feel victimised by new WA firearms laws, touted as 'toughest' in the country
Farmers and recreational shooters say they've been labelled as "bad people" following recent changes to WA's firearms legislation, which will come into effect in March 2025.
Gun owners need to understand that it isn't a right, its a privilege the rest of us allow only if conditions are met.
If something happens that alters the situation those conditions are set for, they need to respect changes that may come.
Setting themselves up as victims, like they have here, makes me question the participants mental capacity to evaluate their own behaviours, therefore their own risk to those around them.
Two people were killed by a gun owner in circumstances where his ease of access to guns greatly increased the severity of the consequences. Communities have a right to expect gun owners to seriously appreciate the risks of their firearm possession.
Also screw the Nationals for making this a political fight, especially a rural v metro fight. This is bigger than you're never seen dirt akubra hat and white pressed shirt with rolled up sleeves country cosplay.
You're viewing part of a thread.
You've clearly got a lot of energy Nath, that's quite a post - including hints of antigun talking points, such as the reference to US suicide statistics.
So you've got a position, and you're clearly more educated on the topic than your "just asking" question implies.
Fundamentally, I think people are good, that by and large they don't hurt themselves or others without cause.
You seem to think of people as awaiting an opportunity or the day they snap or whatever.
That colours our perception of risk a bit.
Most of the new law in WA is just tidying up around the edges of existing legislation that has been doing the job for decades just fine.
Nothing that has been proposed would have stopped the impetus for this change, the double murder we keep circling back to.
Arbitrarily limiting firearms ownership to a certain quantity has got people annoyed for that very reason - it does nothing to stop this from happening again.As I'm sure you're aware, you already have to justify each individual purchase, you already have to store them in a certain way, you can only really use one at a time, and used for evil, a .22LR kills a human just as dead as a .50BMG.
My personal gripe with the law is the categorisation, which doesn't group based on danger or anything like that, they were written with the secondary aim of pulling as many guns out of the community as possible back in 1996.
The two most commonly owned firearms at the time were the .22LR semi auto and the 12 Gauge pump action.
Now you have to be a farmer to get them, and most farmers don't bother, because they are expensive beyond rationality, they have absurd storage requirements and they are limited to a single one each.As I said before, to most farmers, a gun is a tool, and having a spare gun in case your primary one breaks is just sensible, and you can buy 3 bolt actions for the price of one semi auto.
In my collection I have a literal museum piece, a matching serial number 1943 SMLE Model 1 MKIII* made in Lithgow NSW:
It's not pretty, but it is mine.
It's far more accurate than I am, and could realistically kill at well over a kilometer.
A 12 gauge shotgun firing solids (to give the best range and stopping power), is probably good out to 250m. It holds 10 rounds and can be fed quickly with stripper clips, which means it both has more rounds in it and can be reloaded faster than the 12 gauge.This is a category B firearm, which anyone who qualifies for a standard hunting, collecting or target shooting licence can get with justification.
Meanwhile, the far less dangerous 12 gauge is category C, IF you limit it to only 5 rounds. Category D if it holds more.
But the law is the law, and we work within it.
Until some politician needs to be seen as "tough on crime" and the most law abiding group in Australia gets told "it can't be blue any more".You’ve clearly got a lot of energy Nath, that’s quite a post - including hints of antigun talking points, such as the reference to US suicide statistics.
I'm off work sick at the moment. I have bursts of time and lulls of sleep this week. I don't know that I have antigun talking points; you were correct at the start when you said "most of the community don’t think of guns at all". I genuinely don't think about this issue all that often. I wouldn't call myself "antigun", More "anti guns in populated areas". I wouldn't even call myself educated on the topic. I had assumptions regarding the law that were wildly inaccurate.
In case I wasn't clear prior: I'm not about taking guns away from people who need them. I'm not against hunting or sport shooting. I've even gone onto a range in the USA and fired rifles at targets. I was pretty good for a novice.
You seem to think of people as awaiting an opportunity or the day they snap or whatever.
Not as much "awaiting an opportunity" as the possibility exists for people to snap. I don't believe I have a breaking point where I could go killing people - I expect very few people do. But, at the same time we do need to recognise that it has happened and could happen again.
Nothing that has been proposed would have stopped the impetus for this change, the double murder we keep circling back to.
While I agree that the new law would have had no difference to that horrible double murder situation, this law has been in the pipeline since 2016 - and was initially introduced by the previous government. It was not introduced in response to recent events. The final vote on it was probably rushed ahead of the winter recess though.
As I’m sure you’re aware, you already have to justify each individual purchase, you already have to store them in a certain way, you can only really use one at a time, and used for evil, a .22LR kills a human just as dead as a .50BMG.
I'm only vaguely aware of most of this in fact. I only know bits of this through talking to people I know with firearms licenses. I didn't realise you needed to justify individual firearms purchases. I did know you need to secure them. I did not know you could only take them out one at a time.
My personal gripe with the law is the categorisation, which doesn’t group based on danger or anything like that, they were written with the secondary aim of pulling as many guns out of the community as possible back in 1996.
I didn't know anything about those different classifications. I can appreciate the frustration with trying to classify firearms on their level of danger. I don't know nearly enough about guns to begin to try and classify them or participate in such a discussion. It is interesting to hear about though. I would be interested in watching a debate on the topic involving informed parties, and how the assorted firearms are classified. It sounds like an area my needle could be moved on.
I do like your rifle, also. Was that a rifle issued to soldiers? My grandfather served in both world wars. I wonder whether he had such a rifle? He died before I was born so I never met him. Reading service record has been cool though.
Not as much “awaiting an opportunity” as the possibility exists for people to snap. I don’t believe I have a breaking point where I could go killing people - I expect very few people do. But, at the same time we do need to recognise that it has happened and could happen again.
And we should also recognise that mental health statistics are not trending in a positive direction, particularly among young people who will, in the coming years, be adults capable of legally owning firearms. It's pretty common to hear something along the lines of "I never knew" or "I didn't think they were capable of that" from family and friends following a suicide or act of public violence. Whether people are inherently "good" or "bad" isn't what should be focused on here.
Woah. Someone other than Mountaineer read this. On a thread this deep on a small community on a post two days old. I'm impressed!
It's a bit of a tangent, but I don't buy into the notion that mental health is declining. It's being discussed in younger generations. The issues were always there. I think it's great that it is discussed.
The prevalence of mental illness among young people (aged 15-34) has more than doubled within the last decade. It's possible that is partially due to younger people being more open about their mental health, but the trend is still very significant when compared to middle-aged and older people.
A hell of a lot of the rise in diagnosis is the attitudinal and knowledge change thats happened in this area. I'm not yet middle aged and even in my lifetime i'm noticing the attitudinal difference.
I can't stop to find it, but there was actually a satirical post on Lemmy All yesterday about this, might still be high in the feed.
It's not just diagnosis that has spiked, it's also hospitalisations. The rapid decline of the mental health of young people between 2010 and 2015 is consistent throughout the Western world, not just in Australia. I don't find it believable that a decrease in stigma or an increase in education could be the sole cause of the same phenomenon around the world, during the same short time period and to such extreme degrees.
Was that a rifle issued to soldiers?
Yes, it's a literal weapon of war.
This particular one was probably never fired in anger, although it has got service markings.My grandfather served in both world wars. I wonder whether he had such a rifle? He died before I was born so I never met him.
Your grandfather likely carried one yes.
By the time of WW2 they were hopelessly out of date, but the ADF didn't want to invest in retooling.
They even saw limited use in Korea in the 50's.Reading service record has been cool though.
The Factory at Lithgow has a small, volunteer run museum and their website has some history if you're interested: https://www.lithgowsafmuseum.org.au/milproduction.html