SYKES – COMMONSENSE COMES TO GUN CONTROLS

The Nationals Member for Benalla Bill Sykes, welcomed the commonsense gun control measures passed in State Parliament last week.

Dr Sykes said “The new laws will mean less restrictions on antique gun collectors, more practical participation requirements for handgun shooters and less onerous reporting requirements for shooting organisations.”

“I also assisted with an amendment which means the membership of an approved hunting club will now be a genuine reason for obtaining a firearms licence.”

“These changes indicate that the government is at last listening to firearms owners and incorporating their practical suggestions into gun control measures.”

“The Firearms Consultative Committee is proving to be a good way for responsible shooters and collectors to feed in ideas on how to meet the government’s objective of improving public safety without crucifying responsible legal gun owners.”

Dr Sykes continued, “Since entering Parliament three years ago I have worked closely with shooting organisations such as Field and Game Australia, Sporting Shooters Association Australia and the Australian Deer Association as well as many antique gun collector organisations.”

“Without exception these organisations have supported improvements to gun controls in the interest of public safety. However, so many of the new controls have been unreasonably restrictive on responsible gun owners whilst having no impact on criminals and irresponsible gun owners.”

“As I said in Parliament, no self-respecting criminal would use an antique gun to commit a murder or burglary. And yet extremely tough security measures were put in place making it very difficult for people to display and enjoy family heirlooms or for professional collectors to display their collections.”

Dr Sykes concluded, “There is still a long way to go. I will continue to work with shooting organisations and gun collectors to bring commonsense back into gun controls.”

Media contact: Bill Sykes (03) 5762 2100 or 0427 624 989