The new Pardus LAX “rapid fire” shotgun has been released while the 12 month ban on the Alder is still in force and I’m guessing this will spark some questions on our stance on firearms.
Now coming from a farming/hunting background I am very familiar with the weapon regulations in NSW and QLD and I’m not sure what the fuss is about as long as the new lever action shotgun is put in “Category C” along with pump action shotguns that must have an ammo capacity of less than 6 rounds.
A Category C licence is difficult to receive and needs to be held for a longer time before you can apply for “permission to purchase” weapons in this category with a longer time to be approved (if it is) before the standard waiting times apply before you can place your order when compared to A & B catergories.
My suggestion along with most things we don’t have official policy’s on is that we basically say that the current regulations are satisfactory if applied correctly and if it becomes an issue we will look into it then.
Since we do get asked about Gun Control policy quite regularly, it has come up in discussion in PDC meetings.
Discussion to-date aligns with your own suggestion.
i.e. We should have a very simple policy statement, saying that we agree with the current approach.
MorpheusB (on IRC, don’t know if they’re on the forum on not) and I have been pooling our efforts and will hopefully have something ready for Congress.
In addition to my reply, I agree with Isaac that for the moment the Party line should be that no compelling case for reform has been put forward so far so the Pirate Party would not seek any reforms, but that it is currently under investigation to see if improvements can be made.
Reading that Guardian article I am not sure where they demonstrate that the newest entrants to a niche such as lever actions is in some way a “new breed” of lever action and how exactly they are watering down existing regulation.
Guardian has some pretty well established dim views of guns and I suspect that articles like this are more shouting into an echo chamber of those who already want a blanket ban than a sudden voice of the people moment of truth for gun control in Australia. There is some reaching and perhaps a degree of craven opportunism in referencing the Orlando massacre that happened with semiautomatic rifles in America in the context of the debate about classification of lever action shotguns in Australia but the overall tone is as pro gun control as expected.
The Guardian positions itself firmly on the progressive side of the political spectrum and since the largest progressive party is the Greens who happen to be past the mere designation of pro gun control and verge off towards distinctly anti gun it would appear the Guardian follows that lead in appealing to a demographic.
Just googling Guardian circulation Wikipedia was kind enough to provide some relatively recent figures
"November 2014, it is in the top ten Australian news media websites with a
readership of just over 2 million Australians per month, contrasted to
Fairfax Media’s Sydney Morning Herald website and the News Ltd website news.com.au, with readership of 3.8 and 3.7 million respectively." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardian_Australia
If articles of similar tone start to appear across larger publications with more conservative perspectives it would be a sign of significant cultural shift.
It would be good to have a formal stance in the platform on gun control policies and while there is a degree of “why fix whats not demonstrably broken” this seems to be an issue that both advocacy groups pro and anti gun consider to be broken.
An actual consolidation of Gun Licensing and registration being moved to the federal sphere of control would be a good thing. The present state level enforcement muddles the debate and the Federal government is being held in the public eye for a tar an feathering for laws written by state governments.
There are other advantages to centralizing the laws surrounding gun registration and licensing that have doubtless already been discussed but I would throw my vote in as strongly in favor of a clear platform regarding gun control.
True but nothing like holding a inquiry to hear both sides air their grievances even if the outcome is status quo it shows a willingness to negotiate an ideal outcome even if it has already been reached.
Governing may be about the outcome but politics is about the journey.
