The Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW) Inc. “SSAA NSW” has slammed Gun Control Australia “GCA” for withholding a report which GCA claims supports their latest statements about firearm theft in NSW.
SSAA NSW Executive Director Diana Melham said the failure of GCA to so far make their report available implies that GCA has plenty to hide with their claims.
“GCA claims that 27,000 firearms were stolen between 2007 and 2017, but their report is not publicly available as yet, so we do not know what type of firearms they are referring to,” Mrs Melham said.
“Are these complete firearms or parts? Are these toys? Are these paintball markers? Are these collectable firearms which have had their firing mechanisms disabled? We do not know because of GCA’s failure to release their report publicly.”
Mrs Melham said GCA was also accountable for the actions of their friends in advertising the location of firearms to criminals.
“The release of firearms data by GCA’s allies, The Greens, is a clear breach of privacy as firearms registry data, like any individual’s personal information, needs to be protected for security reasons,” Mrs Melham said.
“This information is in the hands of criminals who can now target smaller localities and easily identify the homes of licensed law-abiding firearm owners who legally own and store firearms.
“GCA and the Greens have handed a shopping list to criminals and for what reason? They will have you believe that the motive is public safety, however this is simply a hypocritical and desperate attempt to prove their baseless theories and push their anti-gun agenda without any concern that their actions are both demonising and risking the safety of the 220,000 licensed, law-abiding firearms owners in NSW.”
Mrs Melham said GCA should be working for stronger sentences for criminals who commit crimes with illegal firearms rather than targeting law-abiding firearm owners.
“If GCA truly wants to reduce gun crime, then I challenge both GCA and The Greens to support SSAA NSW’s efforts in seeking increased mandatory penalties for gun crime and increased screening of containers at Australian ports to reduce the number of illegal firearms entering the country,” Mrs Melham said.
“Rather than engaging in scaremongering, I invite GCA to work with us to achieve fair, workable firearms laws that are based on facts and evidence rather than emotion and hype, and are truly effective in addressing the real problem of illegal firearms and gun crime.” Media Release
