Liberal Democratic Party election statement

The Liberal Democrats strongly supports the right to own firearms for sporting, hunting, collecting and self-defence. Senator David Leyonhjelm, leader of the Liberal Democrats, forced the government to put a time limit on its ban on imports of the seven-shot Adler shotgun. He withheld his support for legislation important to the government until the government buckled. Without this, a permanent ban would be in place today. Hard-nosed negotiations such as this is needed to protect your rights as a law-abiding shooter.

Senator Leyonhjelm believes firearms owners should work together. Along with firearms organisations in each of the states, he headed off proposals to change the National Firearms Agreement in ways that were detrimental to law-abiding firearms owners.

Senator Leyonhjelm led negotiations with the government to achieve secure tenure over the shooting range at Malabar, ensuring shooters in the Sydney region will enjoy world-class facilities for decades to come. Senator Leyonhjelm also regularly brings Customs officials to account for their arbitrary and unreasonable treatment of those importing legal firearm parts.

Senator Leyonhjelm has campaigned against the lock-the-gate attitude taken by many managers of national parks. The Liberal Democrats support improved access to national parks, including for hunting.

Senator Leyonhjelm and the Liberal Democrats regularly argue that restrictions on gun owners merely affect those who are law-abiding.

The Liberal Democrats are the only party that believes you should be able to use your firearms for self-defence, something Senator Leyonhjelm regularly advocates in the media. Your home is your castle, and when seconds count, the police are minutes away.

Some political parties say nice things to audiences of shooters, but they rarely say them in public and don’t deliver in Parliament. Only the Liberal Democrats have the track record that proves they will look after shooters. Australia’s 800,000-plus firearms owners deserve serious, committed representation in the Federal Parliament. The Liberal Democrats provide that representation.

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