AUSTRALIAN shooters may be forced to hand back thousands of lever-action guns if moves to reclassify the firearms go ahead.

Federal and state governments have said they will look at reclassifying the guns in light of a new seven-shot lever-action shotgun due to enter the Australian market.

A senior government official said the mooted change may be made retrospective, which could lead to a buyback of the thousands of lever-action rifles and shotguns already legally owned by Australian shooters.

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The issue has come to a head after it was revealed last week that more than 6600 Australia shooters had ordered the Category A Turkish-made Adler A110 seven-shot lever-action shotgun, which senior police describe as “rapid fire”.

Police are leading the push to “recategorise” lever-action into the restricted Category C gun class and away from the general Category A.

The Weekly Times can reveal the national Firearms Policy Working Group was already planning to reclassify lever-action firearms even before the Adler’s impending arrival.

Victorian Police Minister Wade Noonan said high-capacity firearms, such as the Adler shotgun, are “already under active consideration” by the national Firearms Policy Working Group.

Mr Noonan said the group was looking at the classification of firearms under the 1996 National Firearms Agreement.

There are almost 42,000 lever-action firearms in Victoria already owned by licensed shooters. Of those, just 1063 are Category A lever-action shotguns.

In 1996, almost 700,000 semiautomatic rifles and shotguns were handed in by shooters and destroyed when the Howard government first introduced the nation’s strict gun laws after the Port Arthur massacre.

Mr Noonan said acting Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Tim Cartwright “has raised his concerns that this weapon — and others like it — are no longer appropriate for a Category A classification”.

The Victorian Shooters and Fishers Party, which has two votes in the Legislative Council, took its support for the existing gun laws to Premier Andrew’s office last week.

“The Adler shotguns by all definitions are Category A firearms and should remain in that category,” a party spokesman said.

Fired up over new shotgun

Here we go again. Authorities trying to find a problem to solve. There isn’t one. We are talking about licensed shooters, not illegal gun owners.

P. Campbell,

Wagga Wagga, NSW

The National Firearms Agreement 1996 resolved single and double-barrelled shotguns be Category A. If the states had followed that, other shotguns would — and should — be Category B, not Category A. Then there would be no fuss about this. Now law-abiding gun owners look like getting punished because governments didn’t get it right in the first place and police want an excuse for failing to deal with criminals.

Keith Douglas,

Deniliquin, NSW

Lever-action firearms, in a variety of calibres including shotguns, have been in existence since well before the 1996 review of the Firearms Act. That few, if any, are used in crime points to the fact there is little or nothing to be concerned about. There is no evidence that backs up claims a ban is required, let alone justified.

Steve Garlick,

Melbourne

The debate over the legal ownership of lever-action shotguns does little more than demonstrate the stupidity of political games-playing and the illegitimacy of single-issue lobby groups. In terms of firepower, which is supposed to be the defining criteria, there’s no whit of difference between a lever-action shotgun and a pump-action shotgun. The bottom line is that anyone who can’t cleanly kill a duck, rabbit or fox with a single — let alone two — blasts from a shotgun shouldn’t be allowed within rifle-shot of any kind of firearm.

Jason Wreight,

Latrobe Valley

Apart from the fact lever action is not a new technology, having been originally designed in the mid-1800s, as a licensed gun owner and competitive shooter I resent being labelled a criminal. Every gun owner will be happy to see tougher penalties for illegal ownership and use of firearms. Licensed shooters should not pay the penalty for these people.

Steve Therio

Unfortunately many police see the world as just a collection of criminals that they haven’t caught yet, but the vast majority of us are just ordinary people going about our ordinary lives. Really, it’s the job of the police to protect us, not convict us on some shoddy pretext.

Will, Bordertown