YORK couple Mark and Katherine Else have been running their business for more than 30 years wearing hats as mechanic and gunsmith, nurse and midwife, YouTube creators, firearms owners and enthusiasts and have recently been involved with many people impacted by the real-world effects of the implementation of the Western Australian 2024 Firearms Act.

Mr Else said since the roll out of the Act he and his wife Katherine, have seen and heard from hundreds of people and wanted to have their stories heard.

“Some are at the point of absolute despair with the position they have been placed in by these new laws and how they have been implemented in an extraordinarily inadequate process, leaving many average decent licensed firearm owners feeling like they are criminals or at least being treated as such,” Mr Else said.

“These laws have seemingly been written without a meaningful understanding of what is required, let alone actually suited to the stated purpose of improving ‘safety’ for our WA communities,” he said.

He said many of the people he and his wife had spoken to in rural areas believe the Act demands overreaching control over every motion of a licensed firearm.

“Among many other things it can require police permissions to be requested for day-to-day operations of a rural property.  A lot of these over complicated new laws, mean in effect, when involving a firearm, the farmer is forced into a position of either breaking the law or taking the risk of not protecting themselves or their livestock,” Mr Else said.

“The simple ‘be prepared’ attitude that all good operators run with, is no longer a legal option.”

Another perspective the Else’s spoke of was from people living in other parts of our rural areas, the country towns of WA.

Mrs Else said the Act had created a situation where many professional and skilled pest controllers have been confronted with many hurdles, that in the vast number of cases cannot be overcome, and therefore are unable to comply and continue to operate.

“These are the people who help keep control of vermin, such as foxes and feral dogs and cats. These people are in many cases our last and best line of defence for our more precious native wildlife,” she said.

“What has passed on by some people in these areas is that they are already seeing real world impacts on these most precious native marsupials, rodents, reptiles and birds.

“This story is also comparable to the many other now wild, introduced species, including pigs, camels, donkeys, deer and scrub bulls,  which, if left unchecked, will cause irreparable damage to our West Australian bush and farmland.”

Mr Else said he shared a sense of overwhelming concern when discussing some of the very heart felt stories he has heard.

“Most are concerned over the enormous restrictions and costs placed on many of our older hunters, collectors and enthusiasts. People that have worked all their lives, followed the rules all their lives and now are involved in the sports of shooting for their pastime, their passion and their mental relaxation,” he said.

“But now people have found themselves and their sport or pastime being aggressively attacked with overreaching over controlling demands from our government and police force.”

Mr Else also shared one of many heartfelt stories like the one below, left as a comment on the couple’s YouTube channel.

“My treatment by WAPOL can only be described as exhausting to say the least. I have given up my collector’s license as those firearms were post WWII and I would incur the expensive safes and alarm systems. I have brought my firearm numbers down to seven as I am a primary producer as I can have up to 10.

“I have given up my ammunition collectors license as well and rendered three antique rifles and this does not seem enough to satisfy WAPOL. This whole time I have had to endure the suicide of my grandson and be the primary care person for my wife who underwent serious stomach surgery and is still recovering. Police were advised of all of this!

“The pressure that has been placed on us along with large numbers of kangaroos moving into our property has just been indescribable. But I am not giving up, and have made six submissions to the inquiry and signed the petition.

“Mark, you have been right all the way along. I have had a firearms license for over 40 years without any convictions recorded against me and that in itself should of shown WAPOL the type of person I am, but it doesn’t! So, let’s see how the next episode turns out for me and I will keep you informed,” the comment said.

Mr Else said he had heard so many stories from all over the state, and the honest heartache people face of having to give up firearms to be destroyed.

“These are firearms that are family heirlooms. Firearms that have been handed down from World Wars, from family members with meaningful histories. With stories and emotions that mean more to families and their descendants than many might even be able to begin to understand,” he said.

“To demand to give up or to damage these personal and family treasurers is nothing short of cruel and unusual punishment forced onto innocent, law abiding individuals that their only error is to be living in WA at the time of these new ideologically driven laws.”

As sporting shooters, Mr Else said something he and his wife had learnt being involved in shooting in many different urban areas was the amazing way it is able to be enjoyed by all.

“Young and old, able and disabled, males and females, there are disciplines that suit all. But now we have all of these disciplines under attack, especially for some of the less capable where they need more legal support and practical help, which means in affect under the 2024 Firearms Act they are no longer able to enjoy their sport/pastime.”

He noted also that sports shooting clubs and ranges have also suffered with these overreaching laws.

“Many being forced to close via an unusual reinterpretation of the range requirements.  Also, the need of multiple official people to be at a range even when only one shooter is there by themselves,” he said.

“This is effectively stopping all the normal testing, sighting and general maintenance that has occurred without issue for more than 50 years.

“I have an enormous concern with the real-world effects of the Act, where many find themselves being without access to any means to legally own firearms.

“One of the ways this is being done, is by limiting the property letters that can be allocated to a property.  This vastly limits the possible number of legally owned firearms and in affect, as explained by the government and the police force, it is designed to remove most legally owned firearms from the WA community.”

Mr Else said several groups of people he had spoken with are in this position.

“People have ranging uses and needs for firearms, including animal husbandry in small land lot communities, where one person provides firearm help to many in a small community, as well as conservationist pest controllers, small community butchers, even the likes of prospectors who work and camp out alone in the Australian deserts, where even self-protection is of real concern.”

He said there was no statistical evidence for the need for this change.

“If safety was the reason, there is a long list of things that sit higher, such as roads and vehicles, pharmaceuticals, medical malpractice, alcohol, mental health and recreational drugs.  The list goes on,” Mr Else said.

“Even the statistics relating to firearms, are not what it might seem.

“Amongst firearm death statistics there are shootings with illegal firearms (of which we are told there are over one million in this country and these are not impacted by the new laws), shootings by the police, who are not licensed firearm owners, and suicide by firearm.

“This is a sad and tragic situation, but the firearm is not the cause. Another sad part of these statistics are accidents, where untrained and unlicensed people, who, with just the basics of training would never had been part of this list.

“The actual firearm and in particular sporting firearm statistics, show firearms sports to be one of the very safest in Australia.”

Mr Else said he believed that the laws were written without even a basic understanding of the actual use and activities of firearms in Western Australia.

“They were written to make it too hard for most people to keep firearms at all. So rather than just ask the people of Western Australia: “Do you think we should disarm the population?” he said.

“Instead, just write an Act and regulations that just make it too hard, laws that make people give up and get rid of their firearms and ‘get another hobby’ without the trouble of asking the people.”

He said the taxpayer funded review published in 2016 by the WA Law Reform Commission stated that the 1973 Act was actually fit for purpose, with only small alterations suggested, but this was rejected by WA Police.

“If larger change was sort, the only way would be if we brought all the people with vested interest to the table.  Then we could build something that would suit all.

“The police are one small piece of the puzzle, the rest of the population should have the bulk of the voice, ‘government for the people, not government for the government.’”