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.
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@Gorgritch_umie_killa Last I read the limit was going to be 10 guns per licence holder. I'm not a firearm owner but to my ignorant ass, that seems enough. Happy to be educated on why it isn't.
I think I read that it was ten and five for a hunting license. I'm with you on the other perspective thingy: This sounds entirely reasonable.
I'd actually appreciate a simple explanation of the law, what is changing and why it's bad. I have found the legistlation but it's in some dialect. I don't really follow what is different.
I think thats right. No disagreement here.
I had a friend that worked in the industry, a lot of what the industry people say about genuine need is a load of bull. Just like any other hobby they wanna get the latest whizz bang thing and show off their collections. Fine, but guns aren't just any hobby.
Limiting the number of firearms won’t improve safety. The same people who currently own firearms will still own them. Just less of them. And they can only use one at a time when they go hunting or target shooting. So whether they have 5, 10, or whatever number in safe storage, they are all locked away where they can do no harm. Reducing the numbers is more about PR than improving safety.
I’m all for more detailed background checks and more frequent inspections. There needs to be a process to red flag firearm owners with mental health issues, or any sort of violent offence so that access to firearms can be taken away from them either temporarily or permanently. Making firearms harder to obtain and to keep in a way that doesn’t punish the majority that do the right thing will make a difference. Not a PR stunt like reducing numbers.
As to the limit of 5 firearms for hunters. I think that’s a little low. It might be just enough to have one hunting rifle in each calibre suitable for the range of animals being hunted. But a lightweight hunting rifle isn’t suitable for much practice at a rifle range. They can be punishing to shoot on a bench for practice. Target rifles are much heavier and more comfortable to shoot for longer when practicing, but that makes them too heavy to hunt with. Practice makes you more accurate, which means much less chance of wounding an animal. It might surprise people how important it is to hunters to be able to make a quick kill. Anyway, a limit of 5 for hunters will be too low for many.
These aren’t drivers licenses we’re talking about that are relatively easily to get, and where a mistake will get you a fine and the loss of some points. They take effort to get and keep, and the consequences of making even a minor mistake are much more serious. You might not understand why we own them, but we take safety and not breaking any laws way more seriously than the average driver.
Apologies if I rambled on a bit. Also, I’m not from WA, so these changes don’t affect me personally.