Tasmania is already in breach of the National Firearms Agreement and will put “a further nail in the coffin” of the NFA by changing its gun laws, the national gun control lobby says.
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On the eve of the March 3 state election, it was revealed that the Liberals had harboured plans to soften Tasmania’s gun laws, in large part to placate farmers who need to use firearms to manage their properties.
Among the Liberals’ proposed changes are a doubling of the length of gun licences to 10 years, and permitting farmers to carry pump-action shotguns and semi-automatic rifles unlocked in their vehicles.
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Labor, too, has committed to work with the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association to sort out regulatory issues it says impede farmers from legitimately using firearms for day-to-day use.
Gun Control Australia chairwoman Sam Lee said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull should consider holding a referendum to “seize the power for firearm regulation from the states”.
“The NFA is haemorrhaging because the states and territories are legislating it away in return for gun lobby votes and funding,” she said.
The NFA was signed by federal, state and territory governments in 1996, following the Port Arthur massacre.
It introduced a raft of sweeping new reforms to regulate gun ownership and use across the country.
Ms Lee said the NFA would “erode” if states consistently failed to comply with it.
She cited independent research commissioned by the GCA which found there had been more than 50 breaches of the NFA by the states.
“The proposed changes to Tasmania’s gun laws will be a further nail in the coffin [of the NFA] and the Prime Minister must act to prevent the wreckage,” Ms Lee said.
The GCA’s intervention in the debate comes two days after federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten wrote to Mr Turnbull, urging him to convince the Tasmanian Liberals to scrap their planned gun law reforms.
Ms Lee said Tasmania’s breaches of the NFA stemmed from amendments made to its gun laws since 1996.
Among the supposed breaches was the granting of permission for children as young as 12 to possess a firearm.
On Sunday, state Police Minister Michael Ferguson announced that the government would support the proposal for an upper house inquiry into the state’s gun laws.
“The government … won’t do anything that contravenes the NFA,” Mr Ferguson said on Monday.
“Laws and regulations to give effect to the NFA are a matter for each jurisdiction and every jurisdiction has its own approach, and the fact is we have some of the strongest gun laws in the world.”
Meanwhile, independent Tasmanian Senator Steve Martin has stated his intention to write to Mr Turnbull and Premier Will Hodgman to implore them to “keep the NFA in its current form to keep Australians safe”.
