Withdrawn ... images from a Game Council leaflet for students at Neville Public School, which showed "conservation hunters" with cats, rabbits and goats. Under pressure to deliver something for the Shooters, the Police Minister, Mike Gallacher, has opened the door. ''We are open to finding ways to support those schools that wish to offer shooting as part of their sports curriculum,'' his spokeswoman said. Nonetheless, the Shooters and the government are on a collision course over a controversial bill introduced to Parliament. Children younger than 12 would be allowed to own and shoot high-powered air rifles for the first time under the Shooters' Firearms Legislation Amendment Bill. The registration of air rifles - some of which can kill an animal in a single shot - would be scrapped and a requirement for children to buy a $100 ''minors' permit'' and complete a gun safety course would be abolished.

A child now has to be at least 12 to gain a permit. That restriction would be removed and children of all ages would be allowed to shoot with no more than parental permission. Mr Borsak described the proposals as ''minor improvements to some of the unnecessary restrictions''. The bill, if passed, would make NSW the most relaxed state in Australia in terms of gun control. Labor, which was forced to negotiate with the Shooters when in government, believes parts of the bill would contravene John Howard's 1996 National Firearms Agreement, the former prime minister's treaty on guns that stemmed from the Port Arthur massacre. Samantha Lee, head of the National Coalition for Gun Control, blasted the bill as an attempt to ''pedal firearms to young people that is no different to the way tobacco companies have targeted young smokers''.

''They are trying to get new recruits for the shooting fraternity by allowing kids to walk in off the street and straight into shooting a high-powered air rifle,'' Ms Lee said. The Police Association said it was seeking meetings with Mr Borsak and Mr Brown. The Greens upper house MP David Shoebridge said it was a first step to ''introducing a gun culture'' to NSW. ''Most parents do not want their kids going from geography to maths to weapons training.'' Mr Brown said he was ''confident'' the government would support the bill after negotiations with Mr Gallacher and the National Party's Duncan Gay, the government's leader in the Legislative Council. But the government insisted yesterday that scrapping registration requirements was not an option. ''Barry wouldn't have it,'' a government source said. The government is likely to support parts of the bill, including cutting red tape around owning antique hand guns. Some acknowledge the Shooters will have to be accommodated over the next four years. ''The Shooters only have one agenda,'' said a government MP who did not wish to be named. ''They wave through anything the government wants and accumulate credit. But then they expect their agenda to be done.''

Mr Brown said: ''We've said time and again that they [the government] have the mandate to run the state. We're not going to stand in their way unless they screw around with our constituents: shooters, fisherman, hunters, four-wheel-drivers.'' Just days after the Shooters MPs voted through the Premier's public sector wages cap legislation, the government supported, with some amendments, the Shooters' bill for a 10-year moratorium on declaring new marine sanctuaries, large areas that lock out fishing. The axing of Catherine Cusack from the environment portfolio when Mr O'Farrell selected his cabinet was also seen as a gift to the Shooters. Mr Brown said encouraging children younger than 12 to shoot air rifles was all about sport. He added: ''You don't produce [Olympic target shooting champion] Michael Diamonds by starting them at 18.'' A family down on the range BRIAN WOOD, his wife Janette, and their 16-year-old daughter, Rachel, head to the Sydney International Shooting Centre at Cecil Park every fortnight to test their target skills and compete against one another in an evening of friendly rivalry.

''It's much the same as a family night out at a tenpin bowling alley,'' says Mrs Wood, ''except one of us is presently excluded from the fun because he's not old enough to join in.'' Under the present Firearms Act, children under 12 are banned from shooting ranges, which means the youngest of the Wood clan, 11-year-old Connor, is banished to the sidelines. ''It's not fair!'' he declares, and his parents agree. ''I think it's a bit rough that he can't join in what is essentially a family night out,'' his father says. ''He would always be heavily supervised - but rules are rules, and as any licensed shooter will tell you, we take them very seriously.'' Mr Wood learned to shoot while growing up on a farm in New Zealand. He introduced the sport to his wife, who has held a recreational licence for more than 20 years. Rachel followed two years ago. ''I had to choose a skill to learn as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards,'' she says.

''With target shooting, it's not just the skill. There's the discipline and also the numerous safety elements … You have to know them off by heart and continue to know them off by heart.'' While the Woods are keen to challenge the ''many misconceptions'' surrounding their sport, they believe elements of the Shooters Party's Firearms Amendment Bill go too far. On allowing anyone to buy an air rifle without a permit, Mr Wood said: ''I don't advocate air rifles popping up in city streets. Rural areas are a different story altogether but, certainly, there is no place for them in suburbia. Kids don't need air rifles unless they belong to a club where they are learning the sport.'' The Woods, nevertheless, want shooting on the curriculum. ''[It] has taught our daughter discipline, responsibility and the importance of rules,'' Mr Wood said. ''It's a great sport. It's an Olympic sport. How are we going to produce our next champions if we can't promote it?''

Loading Eamonn Duff The Sun-Herald

