Tasmania, gun laws, Port Arthur, Rene Hidding, Rebecca White, Michael Ferguson

Mucking about with Tasmania’s gun laws is full of political danger for the state government. There is no need to say much about the Port Arthur massacre at this point, except that it sparked hard-won reforms spearheaded by then-prime minister John Howard which clearly played a role in improving public safety in Australia. From 1980 to 1996, leading up to Port Arthur, 67 people died in 12 gun massacres in Australia, and many more were injured. In the 22 years since Port Arthur, 13 people died in four such incidents. Those numbers, which do not include single victim gun murders, are compelling evidence the gun laws work. Indeed, arson has been a much more effective method of mass murder in Australia than guns in the years since Port Arthur. Just before the state election, Liberal plans to change the gun laws were revealed. Among other things, the changes would extend some gun licences from five to 10 years and give sporting shooters and farmers more access to pump action and semiautomatic rifles. Some farmers might have a legitimate need for such things, possibly, but it is no wonder the proposal has many Tasmanians feeling queasy. Also, the timing of the revelation made the government look sneaky, and fanned fears about potential public danger. Labor Leader Rebecca White said the Liberals had tried to “quietly appease” the gun lobby with a policy change hidden from the public. Then-police minister Rene Hidding insisted there was nothing in the proposal which would make it easier for anyone who did not have a lawful reason to have a gun to get one. He accused Labor of hypocrisy, saying “their own policy proposing many of the exact same measures sat quietly on their website”. Independent MLC Ivan Dean has called for an upper house inquiry into the proposed changes, and new Police Minister Michael Ferguson has supported the idea. “We have made it very clear we will not do anything that puts Tasmanians at risk or is inconsistent with the National Firearms Agreement, and the inquiry will be a chance for everyone concerned to have their say on these proposals,” Mr Ferguson said. We now know what the Australian public thinks. The results suggest a politically smart party would dump the reforms in the bottom drawer and leave them there. Pollster Essential found 62 per cent of Australians believed the gun laws were about right and a further 25 per cent believed they were too weak. Therefore, 87 per cent either wanted the laws left alone or strengthened. It was also 87 per cent among Labor voters, 93 per cent among Coalition voters, 89 per cent among Greens voters and 81 per cent among “vote other” respondents. Only 7 per cent of Essential’s respondents believed the laws were too strict. Fiddling with the gun laws (by the Liberals or Labor) would be political idiocy. The desires of some farmers, sporting shooters and the guns don’t kill people, people do* crowd are massively outweighed by concerns over safety and by the public opinion revealed by Essential. Also, these things can creep like the boundaries of the Tarkine. If this gets through, pressure would then continue for more changes, and so on. *Crazies with guns tend to kill more people than crazies without guns.

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