The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party are proud supporters and fighters for law-abiding firearms owners. Other parties will only continue to vilify and scaremonger voters about law-abiding shooters and hunters.
We recognise the cultural and economic significance of recreational shooting, hunting and farming. The regulation of firearms should not unduly impede on a law-abiding citizen’s pursuit of his or her freedoms, business or undertaking. Opting for good headlines over good policy, Australia’s law-abiding firearms community has been burdened with increasingly oppressive regulations while gun crime, particularly in inner city areas, has continued unaffected by new or existing legislation.
Good firearms regulation must enhance community safety while not impeding the individual rights and freedoms of law-abiding citizens. Community safety is of the utmost importance. The focus of enforcement must be on criminals who misuse firearms as opposed to wasteful, misdirected over-regulation of law-abiding firearms owners. We recognise the importance of background checking and licensing of intending firearms owners as well as safe storage of firearms. We do not support ‘American-style gun laws’.
The National Firearms Agreement 2017 (introduced in 1996) has failed to address the vitally important issue of illegal firearm importation, distribution and use in crime. Any future review of the National Firearms Agreement must be evidence-based.