The Shooters Union has accused deputy Premier Jackie Trad of using the tragedy of the Lindt Café siege to score political points against the LNP and to target law-abiding firearm owners.



The accusations come in the wake of a video Ms Trad posted on her Facebook page on January 28, in which she tells viewers that “after the Martin Place siege, a coronial inquest found that a review needed to happen over lever-action shotguns, like the Adler shotgun”.

Shooters Union president Graham Park said Ms Trad had twisted facts “to suit her own political agenda” and was using the event “as a scaremongering tactic against the Queensland opposition”.

The deputy Premier in turn has described the accusation as semantics.

In the YouTube video, Ms Trad encouraged people to sign a petition against the LNP’s efforts to consult farmers and other key stakeholders over Labor’s plans to review current firearm legislation, suggesting the Lindt Cafe siege coronial inquest had called for a review of lever action firearms like the Adler shotgun.

Mr Park said the coronial inquest, which was yet to release its findings, had not called for a review of lever action shotguns, and his lobby group has responded to the video with its own version, which he said received many more views than Ms Trad’s original post.

“The Martin Place Siege: Joint Commonwealth and NSW Review has recommended that the Commonwealth, states and territories should ‘simplify the regulation of the legal firearms market through an update of the technical elements of the National Firearms Agreement’ and ‘give further consideration to measures to deal with illegal firearms’,” Mr Park said.

“Not only was an Adler shotgun not mentioned in the inquest or review, but a lever action shotgun was not even used in the Lindt Café siege.



“An unregistered, illegally acquired and illegally modified sawn-off pump-action shotgun was used by an unregistered perpetrator who was on bail at the time,” he said.

“Pump-action shotguns are already restricted firearms under current legislation and we support any efforts to prevent the illegal use of these and other firearms.



“However, Ms Trad is mincing words to score points against her political opponents and using the Lindt Café tragedy to her own advantage.”



According to a spokeswoman for the deputy Premier, the report into the tragedy at Martin Place clearly recommended a review of the National Firearms Agreement, to modernise it and include provisions that account for technical advances.



“This includes new lever action shotguns able to fire multiple rounds in quick succession,” she said.



As it stands, the NFA does not specifically consider lever action shotguns.

