WA Firearms, We Must Not Get Like The USA...

Yes the comment was along those lines...WA Firearms, We Must Not Get Like The USA...

That was the sentiment of the then WA Premier Mark McGowan when the WA Police Minister made several announcements about Firearms Reforms in WA. 
But its a sentiment that is actually very unhelpful & possibly only driven by party politics.
Putting aside the USA has a different regulatory framework around firearms & a constitutional section allowing them to do things we do not do, we still cannot become like America.
Horribly misleading word stunt, we cannot become like the USA insert full stop. 

Firstly Mr Papalia decided to make a Firearms Reform Announcement on a SUNDAY of all days. It was the media equivlent of stealing a home run...he thought.
The WA Liberal Party was having a very successful State Conference. Libby Mettam was Political Party Leader, Caroline Di Russo was elected State President. The "Clan" was on the lie low back foot, big gains were made. That was the Saturday & then Mr Papalia tried to heighten the scare value of firearms ownership & said he'd be bringing in "Ongoing Mental Health Checks" on all firearms owners. He stole the media attention.

Of course, even ardent anti-gun campaigners say that won't help. Clinical Psycologists pointed out you need at least 10-20 hours with a patient to properly establish a baseline for a diagnosis & to even begin to map treatment. 
Even if its only 10 hours, multiply that by 90,000 licenced firearms owners that 900,000 hours of clinical diagnosis that we don't know who pays for & there certainly isn't the staff for in WA's already under staffed, under funded, under resourced mental health sector.
He soon baulked & walked back from that within weeks & it went to undescribed "health checks"
There is currently no mental health test that can predict future acts of violence or murder.

Not helped by the then Premier saying we don't want to get like America.

Well, good news for him. We can't. Try as some might, you cannot make a case for that being even remotely possible and if you can, you need to make sure you know what it is that America is like.
Try this fact...

Which types of firearms are most commonly used in gun murders in the U.S.?

In 2020, the most recent year for which the FBI has published data, handguns were involved in 59% of the 13,620 U.S. gun murders and non-negligent manslaughters for which data is available. Rifles – the category that includes guns sometimes referred to as “assault weapons” – were involved in 3% of firearm murders. Shotguns were involved in 1%. The remainder of gun homicides and non-negligent manslaughters (36%) involved other kinds of firearms or those classified as “type not stated.” (*)

So 59% of firearms used in US murder are handguns. They're banned in WA. You can only get them after going through a highly regulated process & they can only be used at specific club ranges in competitions.
Rifles constitute only 3% of gun murders. We have rifles in WA.

What is the most used type of firearm used in Western Australia? Well these are older figures based on firearm categories but best we can find (**)

 

So we can already see a glaringly fact, most gun homicides are from Prohibited Class firearms. 
2nd Highest Class is Handguns. 

Class C  is the very interesting one even with these older stats. Not even one Cat C firearm & yet the odd "VPF List" of Firearms that the Government recently banned were all fitting Class C criteria. So either there was a massive jump in Cat C Type Gun Homicides in WA recently or...or what? Fearmongering for some reason?

On top of that, those are by firearm types. In the Cat H or Handguns, it doesn't specify how many were lawful club firearms, how many were home made, illegally smuggled in or other blackmarket handguns & how many were police service firearms. 

THAT MAKES SENSE TO KNOW. 

I hope Police Minister Papalia informs the House (Legislative Assembly)

In 2020-21 by the WA Police Statistics there were 23 Murders in WA. 

17 were in the Metro Area & 6 were in Regional WA.

Murders by WA Police Districts.

Esperance Goldfields District                 3
Pilbara District                                      2
South West District                               1
Great Southern District                          0
Kimberley District                                 0
Mid West District                                  0

Some take home points

• 1) So the Regional Police Districts with the most number of people & the most number of firearms is the South West District & the Great Southern District & they had a total of 3 murders.
  
  
• We don't know how many, if any involved firearms
  
  
• If they did involve firearms we don't know if they were legal or illegal firearms
  
  
• If they did involve firearms we don't know what type of firearm category nor what calibres
  
  
• We don't know how many involved firearms on the new VPF List that were recently outlawed. 
  
  
• If any murders did involve firearms we don't know if any involved or were caused by mental illness
  
  
• We do know that because of 3 murders using unknown weapons or perhaps no weapons at all, there are calls from the Minister to not only outlaw firearms that may not be involved in any crimes, there is a push to restrict the number of firearms amongst regional people, farmers, station owners, pest controllers, competition shooters & recreational hunters. This makes no sense but might attract political capital.
  
  
• We know reforms are supposed to be legislative changes that help or protect but always actually work to achieve a better set of outcomes than previous Acts of Parliament deliver. I'm not seeing that.
  
  

Now whether or not this places a scary context for you or not is a personal thing but perhaps look at some comparisons & wonder why there's been so much attention & legislative change on Lawful Firearms Owners & not other sectors of WA.

Across WA...
Recent (as opposed to Historical) Sexual Assaults    -    4160 
Assault (Non Sexual, Family)                                  -  23,792

Assault (Non Sexual, Non Family)                          -  13,298
Drug Offences                                                          -  25,713
Breaches of Violence Restraining Orders                 -  12,046
Total                                                                          - 79,009

Priorities might be tilted towards the visual news grab on the TV.

Those crimes & the WA Police Minister & the WA Cabinet response is to set out firearms reforms to ban lawful firearms that haven't been shown to have been involved in any crime but according theofficial like pose a "direct threat" that has never been demonstrated to anyone.

Banning or restricting the number of firearms amongst anyone, especially regional Western Australians or even farmers will have no effect at all.

Again this is like banning non drinkers from having a car licence so there's a reduction in deaths via drink driving. It makes no sense but allows sight of an effort to build brand...illogical as it is. 

So no. We cannot become like the USA. 
When you look up the amount of gun crime they have, look up the percentage thats Drug &/or Gang related.
Most is committed with handguns & other guns that cannot be owned in WA. Rifles make a very small percentage of the guns involved in US Crime. If you're in a gang or have been convicted of a crime AND you own or carry a gun...it will be an illegal gun. You won't be a fit & proper person with a genuine need like the requirement is in WA.

People seem to be very happy to get rounded up.
And another angle where the round up is easy for the lazy thinkers.
That increased guns automatically means increased threat of gun violence & death.
No, not automatically otherwise the person owning just one firearm is far less likely to commit gun violence owning one firearm but would be more likely to shoot someone if they owned 50 guns (I don't think anyone in WA owns 50 guns apart form gun dealers)
Sounds illogical? Well it's certianly not automcatically true
Compare Australia with Mexico, a country with far more stringent & slower application processes and it has ONE GUN SHOP IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY. 
YES ONLY HAS ONE LEGALLY APPROVED FIREARMS DEALER

Gun Ownership.

Australia -  14.5  Firearms per 100,000 people   ( #45 in the world)
Mexico    -   12.9 Firearms per 100,000 people   ( # 53 in the world)


Gun Deaths.

Australia -   0.10 deaths per 100,000 people       ( #156 in the world)
Mexico -      15.55 deaths per 100,000 people      ( # 10 in the world)

Mexico has less firearms per capita & yet their deaths by gun is 155 times greater than Australias
Restricting the number of guns does not automatically decrease the risk of gun deaths, ensuring who ever is a fit & proper person with genuine need & adequate storage limits gun death. 
Papalia has stated publicly he intents to get more guns off the streets.

He means legal guns owned by law abiding people...pity he wasn't more concerned with the nearly 80,000 offences involving Assault, Sexual Assault, Breaches of Violence Restraining Orders & Drug Offences.

To be fair, he's a MP under political pressure, who's struggling & beleagured minister fighting for his ministerial life, fighting for his political future so he needs sleight of hand reforms.

Not real reforms that help & protect the weak and vulnerable in WA from serious crimes.
Don't get rounded up. He wants you to get rounded up & thank him. 

We should point out Minister Papalia recently announced he'd make it impossible for Domestic Violence offenders to possess firearms. If someone is even accused & charged with Domestic Violence their firearms will be seized until they are cleared or charges are dropped.
Great idea.
Great idea.
Great idea except that's already the case now so not sure how he'll introduce something already in place.

After Being Asked, Which Calibre Gun Is Best For...

Simple answer is all of them. All do similar things but all do similar things to different degrees. Yes an injured sheep can be dispatched with a .22 or .223 or .243. All are the technically the same diameter or near enough. Most shooters will split them up into "20 Calibre" and "30 Calibre" and even "50 Calibre" but they're all different even within that.

Air Rifles are made in .177 right up to .50 calibre. They all do certain things better/worse than others.
Odd thing is its very difficult to have 2 firearms in the same calibre unless there's a distinct difference between the 2 or different purpose between the two. Its quite odd, its the rules but no one can exactly explain why. It is, so too bad.

I recall a person telling me their paper licence had gone into 2 pages (so they maybe had 10-12 or more)
and how a policeman said "You're getting quite a collection there, not sure why. Might be an issue"
When asked why the policeman said "Well its a getting towards a lot"
The owner pointed out very politely he was an approved licenced owner, had security measures well above the requirements under law & had genuine reason for each of them & he can only use one at a time.
The policeman said no its perfectly ok, its just a lot is all.
The owner said well as long as your minsiter doesn't put a dot on a street map to represent a place of a gun owner & slap it on the front page of the paper it will be fine. There was a nod & smile and "No comment" reply.

Frankly if a person has genuine need, has all the required security standards it doesn't matter if they have 2 or 2 dozen.

Anyway which was the best calibre? I got asked even more "6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5PRC, 300WM, 7PRC, 300WM or 300PRC. some of those are closer to some of those than others. Each has different advantages & disadvantages. Availability of rifles you can buy, compnonents to make a custom rifle, availibility of ammunition and then ballistic differences, recoil ete etc...

Within the purposes you'd use them also then throws more variables. Is it pest control, primary producer work, recreational hunting, sporting competitions. With that in mind if you're a competitor you are allowed (for now at least, hopefully forever) a back up firearm in case of malfunction. Yet if you're a pastoralists you can have a handgun for work but you cannot use it at a pistol club, nor can you use your pistol club handgun for work. That's remained despite advocacy to change that. That's one of many that is never included in any reform changes despite WAFTA & WAFCA pushes.

Anyway, is 300WM better than 300PRC or 7PRC. Answer it depends. They're all close but in certain way they're slightly different. If I had to have one & didn't have any I'd go 7PRC for several reasons but again it depends. Few people could afford to buy all 3 but if you can, you want the marginal differences between those then got for it.

I know professional shooters who mostly only use .223 but they've got skills most people won't have, both prone & quick off hand.
I think your limiting factor to which calibre & style depends on what you can afford, your genuine need & ability to store them safely.
I know of one chap who said he applied for a .303 to control rabbits. Yup, he got a phone call about the suitability of that. He demonstrated how it was completely safe where he was (very remote), that the .303 he was wanting to buy was in very good order, cheap & due to family connections/family business woiuld had access to a large amount of free .303 ammunition so it was cheaper than using a .22
He said (?) Police said fair enough, approved it.
Worked for the genuine need, had safe storage, firearm was safe...job done. He's allowed to use it for other legal purposes too. He can take it & compete in Combined Services or shoot other species. Its all good.
Sometimes the size calibre is not what makes it "better" 

It all... DEPENDS.
Buy the best that you can afford & if you can decide how many different firearms you can have & no one really cares.

There are verbal calibre wars. A lot of people bag 6.5 Creedmoor & their owners. Its virtually Holden vs Ford thing. It should only be taken that seriously.
One fellow said he was torn between buying a 300WM & a 7mmPractical. Its a wild cat calibre where a 300WM shell is fitted with a 7mm projectile. He was advised, go shoot both & decide or buy a 300WM & if you want to go to a 7mmPractical (or sometimes called a 7mm-300WM) wait til your barrel is shot out & needs replacing & take it to a gunsmith, they can modify it to suit.
If you can afford both & want both...who cares? It makes no difference to anythign except your bank balance.

Aboriginal Cultural Act is not a game, SO DON'T GET PLAYED. AN UGLY GAME IS AFOOT

Much has been spoken & written about the ACH Bill which became the ACT Act. If you suffer insomnia try reading it all & no doubt you should fall sleep except its that serious you may not. You may have more trouble sleeping.

However that was up til Friday lunchtime and then a political trick came into play. A Katanning meeting had been & gone, recommendations came out of that meeting. They are to be presented to Opposition Leader on the steps of Parliament. At first it was "delegates" who were invited to go but there was confusion as to whether it is/was delegates or whether it's to be a fully on publicrally to Parliament. It is I think the latter so free up some time, get to Parliament on Tuesday the 8th of August.

Then came the side shuffle & the sleight of hand. After dismissing all criticism about the ACH Act legitimately being the worst Legislative disaster since Federation, since any point in WA history then came the non announcement that the ACH Act would go. Here it is...

Now be very aware...(deliberate emphasis added, this is the utmost importance)

THIS WAS NOT AN ANNOUNCEMENT, THIS IS NOTHING MORE THAN A "SOFT LEAK". THIS IS A CALCULATED PLOY DURING A HUGE POLITICAL DISASTER FOR THE GOVERNMENT. THIS IS AN EXTRACTION TACTIC DUE TO A MASSIVE SELF INFLICTED COLLATORAL DAMAGE HIT.

THE TRICK IS IN PLAY. DO NOT GET PLAYED

Now be very aware, this is not Josh Zimmerman's fault. He has a job to do. Somethign drops in his lap, he has to do something with it. Something that is in the best interests of his employer, the newspaper. Whilst his job is to tell the facts, his underlying job is to sell news to sell papers. He can hardly say the government is playing games, he has to report within the unwritten rules. Has to be true, has to be accurate, it has to be fair...those are his goal posts.

But this was not reporting an official announcement.
Note - 

1. There was no official press conference from the Premier
2. There was no official press conference from the responsible minister
3. There has been virtual radio silence from Labor MPs ever since
4. The Soft Leak was timed with calculated precision, late on Friday when Talk Back radio & any political commentary is replaced by the overwhelming weight in weekend sport meaning apart from new bulletins there's nothing until Monday
5. Tuesday Parliament sits, it was always going to be rowdy due to the ACH Act growing into a statewide political disaster for all involved
   
6. Tuesday was also the rally to Parliament to deliver recommendations on the steps of Parliament that came out of the massive public meeting in Katanning that was not atteneded by the Premier, the Federal Agriculture Minister, the WA Agriculture minister or the Minister for Aboriginal affairs 
7. ACH Act Education Workshops were running up to a few hours prior to the Soft Leak Announcement. It is a monumental disaster

So the soft leak is not the trick, it is only part of the trick. It gives a soft landing for a big announcement. It gives the most aggrieved & adversely affected 2 days to fist bump & feel relief so when Monday or Tuesday comes it's all dwindle to a big "phew" when the next play of the trick rolls.

We find out now that some groups from mining & Aboriginal groups had already been briefed BEFORE Friday. WALGA has not. Land Owner groups have not. Other political parties have not. Agricultural lobby groups have not but there is a big rally planned for Tuesday & no matter how many turn up, its a huge political embarassment for the Labor Party & they need to politically diminish it. So by Friday afternoon many of us knew the Government would pull some players into their office to round them up. 

If someone gets tricked into going or not, the main thing people should do is attend the Rally to Parliament House on Tuesday. Both Live Export & ACH Act recommendations still need to be handed over. In essence there is no point walking into the Premier's office or the Minister's office.

Why would you sit down with the Minister who is the responsible architect of the worst legislative disaster in WA History. Unless he's getting people in to watch his formal resignation & introduce the new minister why go? Even then, why go?
Hopefully any & all invites are graciously declined. If I were a big player in this game I would not be meeting with a minister I have absolutely no confidence in inviting me into to watch a card trick whilst I'm politically pick pocketed.

Serious admission of the disaster is the meeting with Minister...if its the Premier & the Minister then yes at that point any invited would probably make sure there's at least 4 postcodes between them & that meeting.
When the Premier is involved with and above the minister it's huge. They're really trying to impress & coerce someone at weapons grade level. Run, just run...there is nothing to gain until the end of the rally.

I don't know what the Katanning meeting recommendations are, they'll be presented to the Opposition Leader on the steps of Parliament. Any meeting beforehand diminishes the Opposition, the Opposition Leader & what they'll be trying to achieve for Western Australians as it gives tacid approval to the failed minister.

I do know the Katanning meeting was about ACH Act & restoring Live Export. 
WA Labor plays orchestrated theatre when they say they support Live Export. Their MPs & the Ag Minister doesn't attend any public Save Live Export meetings nor any meetings of the federally appojnted Transition Committee AND transition still remains in the WA Labor Policy Platform as it did pre 2017. Its a total pretence to say they support Live Export.

Undermining the recommemdations, the rally, the Opposition and everyone associated with putting these recommendations forward is a political impreative of the Government & the ministers involved. They are fighting for their ministerial lives, they are fighting for their political survival. Meeting with the failed minister before the meeting gives those failed ministers who should be sacked from cabinet confidence & it gives them a crack to open to undermine the fuller process.

The only thing to do is to show up to the rally on Tuesday and nothing else. Anything else will be part of the Government's desperate sleight of hand to lessen the political damage. 

EVERYONE needs to stay focused, do nowhere except the rally on Tuesday & beware every trick come Monday to lessen, diminish & undermine Tuesday.

I hope one of the recommendations is a Vote of No Confidence in Minister Buti but if not it must be glaringly apparent to all inside & outside Parliament.

Firstly - Mr Buti has to be removed from Parliament for the unworkable, unfair, under cooked, unready & non fit for purpose legislative disaster.

Secondly - The Act must be suspended & returned to Parliament for a full and proper rewrite because the 1972 Act is not fit for purpose either.

Those 2 things, one is King, one is Queen and the rest, whatever that is, is just irrelevent angels dancing on the head of a pin. Interesting but a pointless distraction.

Come Monday...

THE UGLY GAME IS STILL AFOOT. THE CRAFTY WILL STILL TRY TO PLAY PLAYERS WHO THINK THEY'VE ALREADY WON. RIGHT NOW ITS NOT OVER, ITS HALF TIME & ALL THE PLAYERS ARE BACK IN THE ROOMS...NOW ONE SHOULD TAKE TO THE FEILD UNTIL THE 3rd QUARTER SIREN SOUNDS...WHICH IS TUESDAY ON THE STEPS OF PARLIAMENT. NOTHING IS WON & WINNERS WILL LOSE GROUND GOING OUT EARLY. IT IS THAT SIMPLE

SHOW UP TUESDAY SUPPORT WESTERN AUSTRALIA - SAVE LIVE EXPORT & SCRAP THE FAILED ACT... & don't get played on Monday. The Bulldust is coming. The Ugly Game is afoot