WHITEMAN Park hosted a successful state shooting carnival in the closing weeks of September and is set to host nationals next year, but the future of the sport remains uncertain.
Western Australian Clay Target Association (WACTA) vice-president Murray Cornish said the event was a success.
“It was a new format, and we tried to run it for eight days straight,” he said.
“We ran trap for four days and the other one was skeet for four days.
“It was a good success and (nationals) next year will be bigger and better.”
Mr Cornish said the state carnival was a simulation ahead of the national event to be held in Whiteman Park on April 2 next year, but new gun law changes concerned shooters.
“Every second person I talk to wants to know what’s happening with the gun laws,” he said.
“There’s been a lack of consultancy, the legislation and regulations aren’t complete, and so we’ve been largely left in the dark.
“We’ve tried to suggest things – there’s probably 10 different ballistics sports involved and each ballistics sports’ presidents goes to the meetings with police and the law reform commission but they’ve told us what they’ll do without much consulting.
“There’s a lot of concerned people and having to deal with the new laws is going to have a big impact on our sport.”
Mr Cornish said the main concern were the gun limits which he was worried will affect the competitive shooting due to different formats requiring different guns.
“How did they come up with limits?” he said.
“There are many different formats such as down-the-line, skeet, International Shooting, Sport Federation shooting, sporting, and you can’t use the same firearm for everything.
“The biggest thing is the numerical limit.
“In the law reform commission from 2016, one of the recommendations was that numerical limits don’t have anything to do with public safety.
“They’ve ignored that right through even though that was the 2016 recommendation.”
Nationals Central Wheatbelt MLA and Bullwinkel candidate Mia Davies said law-abiding firearms owners have raised with her serious concerns about the new firearms laws.
“Competitive shooters, like members of the WACTA, are particularly worried about restrictions on the number of firearms they can own,” she said.
“Many top-tier shooters who compete at state and national levels rely on more than five firearms to participate across various disciplines.
“Under (the) new laws, they’ll be forced to surrender some of their firearms, limiting their ability to compete and potentially causing a decline in membership, which could put the future of some clubs and events at risk.
“There’s also growing frustration about the lack of clarity on how these laws will be implemented, with regulations still not released, despite the laws coming into effect in early 2025.”
Mr Cornish said not much could be done until the regulation came out, but he didn’t think shooters would readily accept the changes.
“We’ll do what we need to save our sport,” he said.
“The average shooter who goes to shoot at a range, are not the problem in society but we’re targeted like criminals.
“The biggest thing the Western Australian Firearms Community Alliance did was the petition.”
The petition Mr Cornish referred to was signed by more than 32,000 people opposing the Firearms Bill 2024.
Mr Cornish said he felt the petition was ignored and competitive shooters were at a loss.
“You can’t do anything in the courts until you know what the laws are,” he said.
“Well, that was the highest petition put into Parliament and they took no notice and decided it wasn’t relevant and they weren’t interested.
“From here competitive shooters will have to keep the pressure going and let it be known that we’re not in support of the changes, and come the election in March, we can try to reverse some of this.
“It’s the only option we’ve got at the moment.”
LAW-abiding firearm owners turned out in huge numbers to attend a firearms forum hosted recently by The Nationals WA at the Kalamunda Community Centre.
The event garnered such significant interest the venue had to be changed to accommodate more than 200 registrations.
Nationals’ federal candidate for the new electorate of Bullwinkel Mia Davies MP joined Opposition leader Shane Love, candidate for the state electorate of Kalamunda Lisa Logan and Senator Bridget McKenzie to present The Nationals' view on what they called the state government’s flawed firearm reforms.
Ms Davies said the turnout was indicative of the frustration felt by law-abiding gun-owners across the state in the wake of the Labor Government’s legislation.
“Minister Papalia has treated this community with complete disdain, painting them as criminals and people to be feared,” she said.
“His view of the world couldn’t be further from the truth. Gun owners are Olympians, volunteers in our community, business owners, friends, colleagues and family – not the enemy.”
Leader Shane Love said the fact that The Nationals WA had drawn a crowd of more than 200 people in the Perth metropolitan area showed that the party’s stance was resonating with many people disappointed with the state Labor government.
LAW-abiding firearms owners have raised serious concerns about Labor’s new laws, including a lack of due process which saw debate gagged and the laws rushed through Parliament in recent weeks, according to Nationals WA leader Shane Love.
“The Nationals WA are the only party which opposed Labor’s new firearms laws,” Mr Love said.
“Labor’s new laws will force many to surrender their firearms and severely impact regional firearms dealers. These laws are unnecessary and heavy-handed.
“That’s why The Nationals WA have committed to rewrite aspects of the Firearms Act 2024 if we are returned to government at the state election.”
Mr Love also criticised the ongoing treatment of the firearms community by the Police Minister Paul Papalia throughout the debate and the recent distribution of thousands of misleading text messages by WA Police.
“These texts, which were inaccurate, contributed to confusion and concern for many law-abiding firearm owners, by falsely stating the new firearms act had come into law,” he said.
The existing Firearms Act 1973 will remain in effect until the Firearms Act 2024 is proclaimed, which is expected to occur in March next year.
“WA Police should be helping firearms owners navigate the new process, not sending out misleading communications.
“And it’s disappointing the Police Minister has refused to apologise for this costly error, which has set taxpayers back around $26,000 and was totally avoidable.”
Legislative Council candidate Rob Horstman said as a regional resident and a licensed firearm owner, he understood the importance of firearms for pest control on the family farm, and also that many people also enjoy shooting for enjoyment – either as part of a gun club or recreationally.
“Shooting is one of the most inclusive sports out there and can be enjoyed no matter your age or ability,” he said.
“We’re just days away from the Paris Olympics, where WA’s own Laura Coles will compete on an international level, but the Labor Government is discouraging other West Australians from taking up this past-time.”
THE strictest gun laws in the nation have passed the Parliament of Western Australia, ensuring thousands of firearms are removed from the community.
In a nation-leading move, the number of guns an individual can own will be restricted depending on their licence type. Primary producers and competition shooters can have up to 10 firearms while recreational hunters are restricted to five.
The complete rewrite of WA’s 50-year-old Firearms Act has also seen the introduction of Mandatory Disqualifying Offences and Orders (MDOs), which strip guns from the hands of serious offenders such as family and domestic violence perpetrators.
Under the changes, anyone who applies for a gun licence must complete mandatory firearms training. All owners will also be required to undergo a regular health assessment and comply with new storage requirements.
Supported by a multimillion-dollar digital licensing and management system, an overhaul of the corrupted ‘property letter’ system gives power back to landowners and lease holders so they can control who enters and shoots on their property.
In advance of the legislation passing, the State Government had already doubled the penalties for gun crime, outlawed very high-powered firearms and introduced Firearm Prohibition Orders to target underworld figures.
To date, close to 14,000 guns from more than 8,000 people have been sold to the State Government as part of the ongoing voluntary firearms buyback scheme.
The $64.3 million buyback offers licensed gun owners up to $1,000 to hand in their weapon and remains open until 31 August 2024.
Premier Roger Cook said for the first time, WA’s firearms laws elevate public safety above the privilege of owning a gun.
“I’m unapologetic for our safety-first approach which strengthens gun controls and enhances public safety.
“Sadly, in recent years, we’ve seen the devastating consequences resulting from the misuse of firearms in our community.
“Those tragedies highlight the need to remove guns from people who don’t have a legitimate reason for owning one.
Police Minister Paul Papalia said the consultation process for the historic rewrite of the state’s 50-year-old Firearms Act has been long and extensive and thanked the Primary Producers Advisory Board, peak firearms bodies and community safety advocates.
“The reform removes thousands of unnecessary guns from our community while also enabling the legitimate and responsible use of firearms.”
FIGURES released last week from Police Minister’s Paul Papalia’s office reveal the Midland police district, covering an area from Ellenbrook, Mundaring and Forrestfield, has the most registered firearms in the state at 30,556.
This compares to the Perth police district, covering the CBD and western suburbs, with a total of 5752 firearms, with high totals also in the surrounding areas of Mandurah 26,150, Joondalup 24,739 Armadale 21,357 and Mirrabooka 14,914.
Surprisingly, the regional total of 175,409 registered firearms was only marginally higher than the metropolitan total of 151,404 firearms, not including those belonging to a licensed to dealer/distributor, for a total of 326,813 in the state, owned by 89,530 licence holders.
These figures do not include the 12,000 firearms returned as part of the recent $64.3 million buyback scheme and include firearm, collector and ammunition collector licence types only
Mr Papalia said since 2009, the number of guns in WA had increased by 65 per cent.
“Public safety is paramount, and that has been the key consideration when drafting the state’s new firearms laws.
“If there are fewer firearms in the community, there are fewer opportunities for them to be used illegally,” Mr Papalia said.
He said legislation currently being debated in the Upper House will introduce a limit on the number of firearms a person can own, toughen storage requirements and impose mandatory training and health checks for all gun owners.
“Firearm limits alone will remove over 10,000 firearms from the community,” Mr Papalia said.
“In addition to the proposed legislative changes, we have already stripped notorious crime figures and serious domestic violence offenders of their firearms and removed 280 unnecessarily high-powered guns from the community.
“This historic reform will make WA a safer place and will benefit future generations for decades to come,” he said.
He strongly encouraged all firearm owners to consider participating in the buyback before it closes, or the fund is exhausted.
“This is your one opportunity to get paid for your firearm by the government before the new laws come into effect.”
The released data shows WA Police licensing services revoked 215 firearms licences because of family and domestic violence or violence restraining orders between October 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024.
In April, there were 13 active cases of licence holders subject to restraining orders who had their guns handed back after an appeal to the State Administrative Tribunal.
Under the Firearms Act, licence holders subjected to violence restraining orders are not considered “fit and proper persons” to continue owning guns.
The state government will also introduce new laws requiring accused family and domestic violence offenders to have their guns taken from them by police as a mandatory measure.
Guns will be confiscated until the claims of violence are investigated and resolved.
The move follows from the recent murders of Floreat mother Jennifer Petelczyc and her daughter Gretl.
