Thread: Firearms ban in Western aussie

In most similar democracies, e.g. UK, gun control has stopped at what the ordinary guy would regard as the typical sporting rifle. It’s been that way for many years now. Gun control as I experienced it did not in any way shape or form stop me from hunting, be it deerstalking, rough shooting with 12ga or rimfire small game shooting.

We all share the same concerns about over-reach and excessive imposition of control due to ulterior motives. If the police motive truly is the removal of all firearms from society, and there is irrefutable evidence that supports this view, then how do you propose we go about stopping it? Because this is the next part of the face-to-face conversation I have with people who are worried about this. They all say the same thing… unless we stop it. But how?

The how part never gets a straight answer.

What do you propose?[/QUOTE]

I should have addressed this before now, but in my eyes the answer is normalisation of the sport, and the tools of the sport. I introduce as many people as I can to hunting - via venison sausages, through taking them target shooting, through talking about pheasant hunting and the dog work that goes with it - all of the joy of the hunting experience.

I'm not trying to turn them into hunters necessarily, just to show them that this is something done by normal people, and no threat to them.

Politicians will vote in response to their perceptions of the electorates willingness to punish them for choices that they oppose. What I mean by that is that most pollies have a hierarchy of motivations. First, re-election. Second, a personal and party series of agendas. Their actions are managed by a question that sounds like "will this hurt my chances of getting back in at the next election?", and if they perceive that the bulk of the population is either actively anti, or at least apathetic to a group (for example, shooters) then they have carte blanche to do what they want, on the grounds that this won't get in the way at the next election. What I am looking to do is to move people from passive/possibly concerned about guns towards either moderately positive, or at worst meh about the question.

The people we should be looking to involve are those on the fence, whose perceptions have been gained through movies, tv and the media and not through contact with decent people who enjoy shooting. Show them the face of sport shooting is not Rambo, but George the mechanic or whomever you are.