This places the government in a tricky position. Following the election, the government now requires the support of nine of the 11 crossbench senators for its legislation to pass. Securing that support is obviously more difficult if it cannot be trusted to negotiate in good faith. It sets the tone of negotiations before they have even begun.

Political cut-and-thrust

Some in the media see this as part of the cut-and-thrust of politics. I do not, and nor do most (but not all) of my parliamentary colleagues.

There was cut-and-thrust in negotiating the agreement, from which the government could have chosen to withdraw at any time. Instead it gave its word, which it then broke.

As for the merits of the import ban itself, it only applies to seven-shot lever-action shotguns. The five-shot version can be imported and legally owned by sporting shooters. It is also possible to convert a five-shot Adler into seven or more, simply by fitting a longer magazine tube under the barrel. It is not illegal, and plenty of people are doing it.

The import ban achieves nothing, and is not preventing the ownership and use of seven-shot lever-action shotguns.

Not that there is anything to fear from seven-shot lever-action shotguns. The presence of two extra rounds in the magazine does not transform it from a safe to a dangerous firearm. Neither a mass murder nor a terrorist attack is more likely because of those two extra rounds.

Relatively few firearm owners want to own a lever-action shotgun, and even fewer care whether it holds five rounds or seven. However, every one of them knows the implications of creeping regulation on their sport. They know if it's lever-action shotguns today, it will be something else tomorrow. The Firearms Section in the Attorney-General's Department has had an agenda of incremental restrictions on firearms for over a decade. Semi-automatic pistols, pump-action rifles, lever-action shotguns and lever-action rifles are on their list.


Disarming law-abiding Australians

The government's behaviour in relation to its deal with me is not only about trust, but also about what's being done to sporting shooters. It is yet another step in the process of disarming law-abiding Australians, of preventing them from enjoying their sporting, hunting and collecting activities, and towards the end envisaged by John Howard in 1996 in which only the police, military and security guards have guns.

And if the government can't be trusted to keep to a deal with me, how can it be trusted if it owns all the guns?

David Leyonhjelm is a senator for the Liberal Democrats