Page 259 - Week 01 - Thursday, 14 February 1991
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aware, firearm possession has proliferated, notwithstanding the existence of many laws at Federal, State and city level in the United States which regulate the place and manner of gun use in that country.
In Australia, too, gun ownership has increased. In 1979 it was estimated that one in six Australians owned a gun. A decade later, that figure had increased to one in four. At present here in the ACT, there are about 13,000 licensed gun owners who lawfully possess about 24,000 guns. In addition to these 24,000 guns, there exists an unknown number of illegal firearms. The Australian Federal Police estimate that this could amount to a further 4,500 guns in circulation in the ACT.
Although this indicates that firearm possession in the ACT is below the national average, the Alliance Government considers it essential in the increasingly violent society that our present gun laws, enacted more than half a century ago, be replaced by modern and effective provisions. In some quarters such a move will be objected to. Indeed, there are those in certain extreme groups who advance the view that Australians, like citizens in the United States, have a constitutional right to possess firearms. This is simply not so. There exists no equivalent of the United States entitlements regarding guns. Outside of these minority sentiments, there is little support for a lessening of controls, much less their abandonment. It is open to each of the States and Territories to legislate regarding firearms possession and use in their respective jurisdictions. In fact, each jurisdiction has now introduced new legislation, or amended existing provisions, in response to community reaction to acts of excessive violence involving firearms.
The National Committee on Violence, to which I have previously referred, noted that nearly 700 Australians die each year from gunshot wounds, most of them intentionally self-inflicted. The committee made a significant number of recommendations for action by Federal, State and Territory governments, in an effort to bring about a reduction in these statistics. The Weapons Bill very substantially reflects these recommendations. Only in two main respects is there a divergence from the recommendations. In respect of ammunition, the Bill recognises the current practice of approved shooting clubs to sell ammunition from their premises to members and persons competing in shooting events at the premises. This facility, in our view, negates the need for sporting shooters to possess large quantities of ammunition. The Bill also recognises the activity of ammunition collecting, that in some circumstances persons keep ammunition as a keepsake or memento.
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