NSW Shooters party Newsletter Feb 21 2006
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NEWSLETTER FROM OFFICE OF JOHN TINGLE MLC February 21
2006
THE MEDIA AGAIN!
Did you see the double-page spread on pages 8 and 9 of the Sydney Daily
Telegraph yesterday, February 20 2006, headed "Fears for the Future as State
Embraces the gun."?
Very colourful! It reported an increase in registered firearms in NSW of
25% in the past three years. Samantha Lee of the Coalition for Gun Control
called an immediate media conference, saying how dreadful this was.
The problem was that the Telegraph story was hopelessly wrong! Their
figure of 650,185 gun registrations was quite correct - obtained from the
NSW Firearms Registry via the Police Media Unit. But nobody seems to know
where they made that raw figure into an increase of 25% in three years.
It was, in fact an increase of 8,717, or 1.35% since December 2002.
I immediately checked the actual figures of registrations over the past four
years, and rang the journalist who had written the story. I know him, and
he is, generally, very reliable.
I pointed out the error and he invited me to email him a rebuttal, which he
would see was published. I emailed that to him within the hour. I
didn't
really expect the Daily Telegraph to admit it was wrong, (no media ever
does!) and my doubt was justified in this morning's paper, with a tiny story
on page 15, about how many people had lost their firearms licences in the
past year. At the bottom of this story, they referred to yesterday's story
about a huge increase in guns, and then said I had disputed the story using
my own figures.
For the record, I emailed this to the journalist, with figures clearly
sourced from the Registry:
February 20 2006
RESPONSE TO DAILY TELEGRAPH ARTICLE 20.02.06 Pp 8-9
The number of registered firearms in New South Wales has risen 1.359% in the
past four years - not 25% as reported in today's Daily Telegraph story.
The actual figures of firearms registered at the end of the last four years
is:
December 2002: 641,468
December 2003: 653,834
December 2004: 647,183
December 2005: 649,535
Current: 650,185
Source: NSW Police Firearms Registry 20.02.06
Raw figures on the number of registered firearms are meaningless unless
placed in the context of who owns those firearms. The total includes
stocks held by licensed firearms dealers - most of whom would have several
hundred - or even several thousand -- firearms in stock.
These obviously inflate the figures in certain areas. For instance Terry
Hills is home to one of Australia's biggest licensed firearms dealerships -
The Stockade. It has large stocks of firearms, and its proprietor is also
a licensed theatrical and film armourer who has a large number of
specialized firearms for that purpose - all of which have to be registered.
There are not 750 registered (not "licensed") firearms stolen every year.
The figures are:
December 2000: 788
December 2003: 768
December 2004: 486
December 2005: 462
Source: NSW Police Firearms Registry 20.02.06
By far the greater number of firearms stolen were long arms - rifles and
shotguns, which are very seldom used in crime.
Samantha Lee's claim that the Iemma Government is "gradually retreating"
from tough gun laws is laughable. I spend the greater part of my working
time in discussions and negotiations with the Government trying to make the
laws more reasonable, and it's like trying to talk to Mars on a crystal set.
For instance NSW is one of the last states clinging to the pointless,
time-wasting 28-day cooling-off period when somebody applies for a Permit to
Acquire a second or subsequent firearm. Queensland, Western Australia,
Northern Territory and Victoria have abandoned this cooling off period, and
Tasmania is currently reviewing it.
A bill was not passed last week to allow hunters to go into National Parks
to hunt feral animals. Parliament has not sat since December; and the Bill
referred to specifically excludes feral culling in National Parks.
End of the item emailed to the Daily Telegraph.
I don't know how many times I have been asked by shooters why I haven't
responded to some media attack on shooters; or how many times well-meaning
people have said we should just get the truth into the media, for the public
to see, and the fuss about guns will disappear.
The point is that I do try to get our point across, but with rare
exceptions, the media just doesn't want to know. It's much more fun to go
on demonizing us. I mean, who wants to spoil a good juicy story with the
facts?
And to drive the point home, here is the Media Release sent to all media
yesterday, but used by none:
MEDIA RELEASE Monday February 20 2006
THE REAL GUN REGISTRATION INCREASE: 1.35%!!
Shooters Party MLC John Tingle today dismissed claims of a huge upsurge in
gun ownership in New South Wales as "absolutely incorrect."
He said claims that gun registrations had increased by 25% over 3 years were
contradicted by registration figures obtained from the NSW Police Firearms
Registry this morning. Those figures showed that the number of registered
firearms had increased from 641,468 in December 2002 to 650,185 at present.
"That's an increase of 8,717 firearms registered over a four-year period" Mr
Tingle said "and represents an increase of 1.35% -- a long way short of a
25% increase in the last three years."
He said raw figures quoted in the reports did not put firearm numbers in
their correct context.
"That figure of 650,185 includes every registered firearm in New South
Wales" he said "and that includes all the firearms held in stock by the
state's licensed firearms dealers. Most have hundreds, if not thousands of
firearms in stock, and they would account for a substantial part of the
overall figure."
Claims that Terrey Hills had one of the highest firearm numbers overlooked
the fact that one of Australia's largest firearms dealerships is located at
Terrey Hills.
Mr Tingle also questioned reports that an average 750 firearms were stolen
from licensed owners every year.
"The figure was 788 in 2000; 768 in 2003; 486 in 2004 and 462 in 2005" he
said and those figures include firearms stolen from armed guards and
others - they are not all from private homes. The greater number of
stolen licensed firearms were rifles and shotguns, which are not really what
the criminal is looking for. Most of the firearms were stolen in rural New
South Wales, where firearms have traditionally been looked on as tools of
trade; and because they are often in daily use, are sometimes vulnerable to
the opportunistic thief."
Mr Tingle said campaigns of demonisation of licensed shooters were often
based on falsehood or deliberate distortion of the facts.
"We are the most regulated, controlled, restricted sport in the world. We
have to go through an inordinately protracted and complex process to obtain
a licence and a firearm - the cost has increased five-fold, and we have to
have expensive safe storage facilities. Yet despite that, we are constantly
confused with criminals, who don't bother about firearms licences, or
registering their firearms. No other sporting group is treated like
this."
Contact: John Tingle Parliament House 02 9230 3059
End of media release
AUSTRALIA POST
At the start of this year, Australia Post grandly announced it would no
longer handle firearms, or firearm parts being sent into, or out of
Australia. I was told this was part of the measures being taken to
prevent terrorism; that it was in the interest of the safety of Australia
Post staff..etc., etc.!
Australia Post functions under Federal Law as a corporation, and, in a
sense, can accept or reject articles for carriage as it sees fit. This is
a silly ruling, because as I understand it, if Australia Post finds a
firearm or a firearm part coming into Australia it will simply return it to
the sender. Very clever! That means that piece of "potentially
terrorist" material will travel through the post twice instead of once.
The SSAA and other national organisations have met with Australia Post to
ask what all this means, and I understand they were told it would be
reviewed. Don't hold your breath!
Incidentally, this looks like a good argument on the folly of privatising
major national services. I'm sure that if Australia Post was still firmly
under Federal Government Control, John Howard would never allow it to act
against legitimate firearms owners, in this fashion!
(Just joking!)
AT LAST! SOME GOOD NEWS:
1. PTA'S AND INSPECTIONS CERTIFICATES
Recently, people applying for a Permit to Acquire have received a letter
back from the Firearms Registry saying they had to submit a Certificate of
Inspection of their secure storage, before the application could be
processed. This was a new thing, and, in the case of people who already
have a firearm, was pretty pointless, since we all had our secure storage
inspected in that great state-wide sweep; and unless the applicant's address
had changed, there was little point in a new inspection. In any case, I
had countless reports of people asking their local police to do a new
inspection to go with the PTA and being told the police were much too busy
to do all that again.
Well, the good news is, that from yesterday, that requirement for a
Certificate has been suspended. Thank goodness!
2. SIGHTING-IN FOR LICENSED HUNTERS
Recently, an additional condition has been added to range licences, warning
that people whose licences are endorsed only for hunting should not be
allowed to sight-in on ranges.
This puzzled me, because Government policy, stated to me several times over
the last 6 years or so, is that it is preferable for people to sight-in,
under controlled conditions, on licensed ranges, rather than by shooting
(for instance) at a beer can propped on top of a fence-post, out in the bush
somewhere. In addition, I believe that the Review of the Regulations, now
going on, will specifically allow hunters to sight-in on licensed ranges.
As of yesterday, I am advised that no action will be taken against hunters
sighting-in on ranges, or against the licensees of ranges which allow them
to do so.
3. THE APPLICATION BACKLOG
For various reasons, the time taken to process licence and PTA and other
applications sent to the Firearms Registry has blown out in the last three
months or so, and I was told at the start of last week that the Registry was
only then beginning to process December applications. As of yesterday,
overtime is being worked to clear up the backlog, and I am told it should
come back to normal quickly.
Incidentally, of 700 applications of various types received at the Registry
in December, 400 were incorrectly or incompletely filled in. You can't
blame the Registry if you don't get the paperwork right - so do it
carefully, and it might be smart to get a friend to check it!
John Tingle MLC
The Shooters Party, Parliament House, Sydney 2000
Ph(02)9230 3059 Fax(02)9230 2613 email: cti...@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Paul(oz)
>
> NEWSLETTER FROM OFFICE OF JOHN TINGLE MLC February 21
> 2006
>
> THE MEDIA AGAIN!
>
> Did you see the double-page spread on pages 8 and 9 of the Sydney Daily
> Telegraph yesterday, February 20 2006, headed "Fears for the Future as
> State Embraces the gun."?
>
The Courier Mail ran a similar story on Queensland registrations this week.
Seemed to be presenting it as an argument to restrict ownership even
further. Any other states seen stories like this?