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Tasmanian gunowners should be able to apply for a gun licence for life, a former Legislative Council election candidate has said. A parliamentary inquiry into the state government’s planned adjustments to gun laws began hearings on Friday which Carlo di Franco from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmer Party appeared at. He said the state government should do away with most of the National Firearms Agreement which was implemented in the wake of the Port Arthur Massacre which claimed 35 lives. “Australia does not have, and has never had, a gun problem,” Mr di Falco said. “The National Firearms Agreement has been a huge waste of money and police resources.” Mr di Falco said Tasmania was as safe before the NFA as it was after it, adding he purchased a semi-automatic weapon from K-Mart as a teenager. He said once a person had been assessed as being fit and proper to hold a gun licence, they should not be burdened with a renewal process. Labor police spokesman Shane Broad objected to Mr di Falco’s claims that the NFA was worthless. “Your contention is that is the National Firearms Agreement and the more stringent laws have had absolutely zero effect, haven't saved a single life," he said. "But between 1979 and 1996, there were 13 mass shootings and in the following period from 1996 to 2016 there were none." The Allanah and Madeline Foundation was created after the Port Arthur Massacre which claimed the lives of Alannah and Madeline Mikac, aged six and three, and their mother. Spokesmen Stephen Bendle and Mark Warburton said regulations should never be relaxed to a level which normalised gun ownership. Mr Bendle said the government should be looking at opportunities to strengthen firearm legislation, not weaken it. “We should be making decisions on the basis of public safety and not of ease of use for firearm users,” he said. Children's Commissioner Leanne McLean said she was cautious about any policy which would enable firearms to become more readily available in the community and any policy that changed registration of firearms. She said Tasmania, with other jurisdictions, had never fully complied with the NFA's terms, particularly through allowing young people aged 12 to 18 could obtain a permit to use a firearm. Ms McLean quoted Governor Kate Warner who did once did an extensive study on gun regulations and said she couldn’t see how liberalising gun ownership for young people could do any good.

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