Queensland independent MP Bob Katter is seeking to overturn a temporary federal government ban on the import of a new rapid-action shotgun and says he is so worried about the erosion of Australians’ ability to own firearms he bought a bow and arrow.



But Labor is demanding the Coalition broaden the ban, put in place while federal and state governments review Australia’s post-Port Arthur gun laws.

The main importer of the Adler 110, which the Coalition has banned for one year, was Katter’s son-in-law Robert Noia.

Katter said he had always been “philosophically pro-gun” and was “not going to be intimidated out of doing something just because [Noia] and I are related.”

Katter’s disallowance motion, which was to be moved Monday night and seconded by Victorian independent Cathy McGowan, has no chance of success, but is also aimed at politically embarrassing the National party.

National MPs and senators were angered by the original ban, announced by former prime minister Tony Abbott, but Katter says they will always be forced to “do whatever the Liberal party tells them to on the issue.”

Abbott announced a ban on Adler A110 shotguns, a Turkish-made weapon capable of firing seven shots in rapid succession, after the gun control lobby began raising concerns earlier this year. The ban applied to lever action shotguns with a magazine capacity of five rounds or more.

Noia, a Brisbane-based gun importer, said he had taken more than 7,000 customers’ orders for the $800 weapon.

But shooters’ organisations, the National party and Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm were outraged, and one month later, after Leyonhjelm said he had “blackmailed” the government with his Senate vote on an unrelated issue, the government staged a partial reversal, and promised the ban would definitely be lifted in 12 months.

Gun Control Australia says the Adler would “completely undermine” the National Firearms Agreement, struck after Port Arthur in 1996 and put under review after last year’s Lindt Cafe siege.

Katter says he sees gun ownership as a simple question, “should the individual have the power to protect himself or should the crown have that power?”

“We are emasculating the individual because some city people are scared of firearms. I’ve bought a bow and arrow now because I think one day they’ll ban all guns.”

A spokesman for McGowan said she intended to second the disallowance motion because “many constituents have called her and asked her to support it.”

But Labor’s shadow justice minister David Feeney says the existing ban should stay for the duration of the review, and has called on Malcolm Turnbull to extend it to all lever action shotguns, including a modified five cartridge version now being imported by Noia and others.

“Given the events of the past week, domestically and abroad, now is not the time to erode or undermine John Howard’s tough gun laws, which are respected around the world,” Feeney said.

He said a broader ban would ensure fewer people would have the guns if the current review decided to change the laws when it is finalised in early 2016.

“Labor believes that the Government must also act to prevent other powerful weapons entering the Australian market while the review of the NFA is completed. We are extremely concerned by reports that a modified version of the Adler 110 lever-action shotgun is now being imported into Australia.

“Under the current National Firearms Agreement, lever action shotguns with a magazine capacity of five rounds or less are a category A, which means they are available to Australia’s 700,000 licensed recreational shooters.

“Gun critics have said the Adler 110, which can shoot multiple rounds in rapid succession, is faster and more powerful than other models of firearms. Given that the appropriate classification of lever action shotguns is currently under review, we shouldn’t be seeing more of these weapons enter Australia,” Feeney said.

Victorian police minister Wade Noonan has called for the weapon to have the same restriction as a semiautomatic firearm and says it is no longer appropriate for category A.