Australian Shooters - Just Pawns in the Gun Sales Game

[philw]

Apparently   

this is from gun control Australia   one of the Anti gun groups over here

<http://www.guncontrol.org.au/index.php?article=99>

It must worry the average Australian to know that the gun trade has become a dominant influence on the so called shooting sports. Its our belief that gun and ammunition manufacturers and traders are primarily interested in profit and that means that they are committed to seeing that more guns and ammunition are sold. We suggest that this infers that they want little or no restrictions on gun and ammunition purchases, i.e. little or no gun laws.


To Gun Control Australia this represents a slow but dangerous change to the aims of the so called sport of shooting. We say so called because a true sport demands superb physical fitness, a contest amongst equals, and an activity which promotes respect for life itself. Does the most common reason to own guns, hunting, promote a contest amongst equals and respect for life? Of course not, thats a joke to hunters - they just like killing. But then guns are designed to kill anyway, so perhaps we shouldnt make a fuss. As for the SSAAs Australian Shooter magazine or Yaffa Publishings Sporting Shooter magazine starting to give even a quarter of their pages to the physical education and fitness training of shooters; well, we suspect it will be a long wait till we see that.


It seems to us that shooting is now largely controlled by the interests of the trade. The SSAAs Australian Shooter magazine has almost 50% of its pages devoted to trade based advertising and promotions. One suspects that this means that the SSAA is dependent on the trades financial support. At the moment a major gun importing group has top position on the SSAAs Australian Shooter magazine website, while an Italian based international arms manufacturer seems to us to have a major interest in SSAA Victoria by the way it has been publicised in ssaavic activities. We believe that the interests of the gun trade have come to dominate the attitudes and values of some of our major shooting groups.


We believe that the increasing opposition to improved shooter safety training by groups like the SSAA probably reflects the increasing influence the trade is having on them. We know that the existing shooter safety training courses are a joke because they are so undemanding and they ensure you pass. We will not embarrass decent shooters by reminding them of the horrific consequences of recent shooter incompetence in outer suburban Melbourne. We will, however, remind the public and Australias shameful police ministers that as few as one in a thousand applicants who take the shooters safety training test actually fail.


The public must remember that passing the shooters safety test will almost certainly entitle you to own many guns legally. Thus the give away shooters safety test is really a massive legal gun give away: and we wonder why shooters are so careless? And, further, we wonder why so many legal guns come onto the black market? The fact is that, in the matter of shooter safety training, the public are being duped by the eight state and territory police ministers as well as the responsible federal minister, Bob Debus.


This trade influence to maximise profit by higher gun sales and to work toward weaker gun laws seems to have encapsulated some shooting organisations. One large gun club talks about getting kids interested in shooting to help maintain the sport: we suspect its really about helping the international gun trade prosper in the future.


Australias largest gun group, the SSAA is a proud member of the trade dominated, World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities (WFSA). Just examine, if you will, the composition of the WFSA shown below and assure us that this body is all about sport. It helps to know that the current WFSA president has been associated with the American gun trade and the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute, USA.

World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities - membership as shown on WFSA website 18 January 2009



Asociacion Armera, Spain

Association of European Manufacturers of Sporting Ammunition

Association of Maltese Arms Collectors and Shooters

Associazione Nazionalae Produtti Armi e Munizioni

British Shooting Sports Council

Bund der Militar - und Polizeischitzen e.V.

Canadian Institute for Legislative Action

Consorzio Armaioli Bresciani

Council of Licensed Firearm Owners, NZ

Danish Sport Shooters Association

European Association of Civil Commerce of Weapons

Federacao Portuguesa de Tiro com Armasde Caca, Portugal

Federation Internationale de Tir aux Armes Sportives de Chase

Federation of associations for Hunting and Conservation of the EU

Federazione Italiana della Caccia, Italy

Finnish Arms trade Association

Federazione Tiro a Volo, Italy

Federazione Italiana Tiro Dinamico Sportivo, Italy

Firearms Importers Roundtable Trade Group

Forum Waffenrecht - Deutschland

Hunting and Fishing Association of Turkey

Institut European des Armes de Chasse et de Sport

Interessengemeinschaft Liberales Wafenrecht in Osterreich

National Firearms Association Canada

National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association, USA

National Rifle Association, USA

National Rifle Association of Norway

National Shooting Sports Foundation, USA

Pro TELL Switzerland

Safari Club International

Second Amendment Foundation, USA

Shooting Sports Association of Ireland

Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute, USA

South African Gunowners Association

Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Association of Japan

Sporting Shooters Association of Australia

Union Nationale de lArmurerie, de la Chasse et du Tir, Belgium

Verband der Hersteller von Jagd Sportwaffen und Munition, Germany


Its also worth noting that the registered office of the WFSA has the same address in Belgium as the Association of European Manufacturers of Sporting Ammunition (AFEMS) registered office. This is the massive (about 50 corporate members) European ammunition trade organisations association. Both AFEMS and WFSA have their Secretariats in Rome.

[Texas_Bryan]

Have you read their "goals".  These people are insane.

[philw]

Have you read their "goals".  These people are insane.

heheh yep they are nutters


check this vid I posted up after a shooting that happened here in Adelaide

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=giyF-LnD5Bk



FYI  the National Coalition for gun control

From John Tingle :
On March 22 2004, Mike Jefferys, who does the breakfast programme on 2CC Canberra, interviewed Samantha Lee.  When he asked her who the NCGC actually were, and how many of them there were, she hedged.   When he put it to her that she was the only member, she replied “Maybe I’ve just got a loud voice.”

He then asked her what had happened to the TV Commercial.  Was it a fact they had to withdraw it because segments in it could be in breach of the firearms laws?    No, it had been canned because of a personal matter between herself and the advertising agency, Saatchi and Saatchi, which produces ads for the NCGC on a free “pro bono” basis; and that the “public” didn’t need to know the reason behind the cancellation.

from memory ( I can not find on the net)  there are only a couple of people NCGC   however they  are always quoted when something happens that looks Bad for ligament gun owners

also John Tingle is a legend over here  he started the Shooters Party and was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council in March 1995 as the party representative  they now have 2 reps elected at the moment and it really pisses off the greens hehe