There's more to slap under the microscope here. A lot more. But the helicopter view of it all says it was very poor governance by a group of political leaders who didn't know what they were talking about. Worse still how many fell in behind it. I've complained before that whilst we have a number of good politicians we are missing great statesmen, great legislators and visionary leaders who can identify & champion good infrastructure projects with over the horizon benefits. We're pretty much bereft of vision and understanding in some of the halls of power.
But specifically the Adler. What specifics?
Well to my knowledge there has never been a siege or mass killing in this country with a lever action firearm of any sort let alone a 12 gauge. A 12 gauge that with some ammunition has an effective or accurate range of 50 meteres.
Its not new technology. Refined yes, but lever actions have been around since roughly mid 1860s. That's 150 years.
High capacity? Well here's the really odd part. Prior to the promotional campaign of the Adler there were lever action shotguns in Australia. There were & are lever actions legally owned right now in Australia with 7+1 just like the Adler. Most rifles can have a 10 shot magazines. Many shooters in revolver clubs use a Smith & Wesson Model 617. Its a .22 revolver with a 10 shot cylinder. Capacity is a bit dubious.
High firing rate, well yes that's true but it depends exactly on what you compare it with. No faster than the S&W 617. Now if you compare it with most bolt action, or pull bolt actioned rifles its probably quite slow. With the lever action you're firing one shell at a time til empty, then you're reloading the magazine, one shell at a time, til full then again, manually cycling the firearm to shoot one shot at a time. With detachable magazines in a rifle, you would not only be slower with the Adler, in some cases the Adler is a veritable snail. Enter any magazine fed firearm, with 4 magazines or a revolver with a speed loader and fire off 24 rounds through it as fast as you possibly can. Now get your time and compare it to firing 20 rounds through an Adler. It can easily be 5 times slow because a magazine change is a lot quicker than manually reloading 8 rounds in an Adler...one at a time. (We won't mention how accuracy suffers at a high firing rate)
So what caused the uproar and what are some of the other outcomes it can produce?
I suspect the Nioa team knew they had a sales gem on their hands. As I understand it they worked with the Turkish company Adler to develop, produce and market a lever action firearm that easily fell within the current legislation or rather regulations to allow it to run a 7+1 capacity. How was it going to compete with what wasn't a hugely popular style of firearm? Well it needed to be able to fire 8 rounds but it needed to have a competitive advantage over is competitors and so it had to be a very very tough durable and reliable gun. So with the cameras rolling they "torture tested" 2 Adlers with the 2 different barrel lengths and as fast as they could, they fired 5000 shotgun rounds through each one. It ran like water down a drain pipe...perfectly. After that footage was released & went near on viral, the job was done. The sales pitch was delivered. Pig shooters and others who need good reliable follow up shots with a few spare rounds in reserve saw the potential...especially when it didn't miss a beat like its competitors probably would.
Had this firearm been released without fan fare, it would have sold in slow reasonable amounts, built its own reputation over time and eventually sold the same amount as the video test did. Timing was poor considering the Lindt Café had happened even though that firearm wasn't a lever action, wasn't a licenced firearm and it was bought off the black market by a deranged psychotic as was the case with Port Arthur Massacre.
Here's the outcome we want to highlight though.
The Federal Government had no way at all of banning the Adler 110 Lever Action Shotgun sale, none. It complied with all firearms regulations in Australian states and territories. Firearms are a state matter not federal. The Federal Government could not intervene at all. They couldn't ban the sale of the Adler nor any other 7+1 lever action firearm in gun shops, but they could ban the importation.
This is still the case now. You could, if there were some in Australia, legally buy, own and use them...the barrier is the import ban.
Some will disagree but this is a glaring case of "SOVEREIGN OVER REACH" by the federal government. It wasn't illegal, the government broke no law but they used what little they had to force their will upon the states. One of the aims of Federation was to protect the sovereign rights of the states. Now it seems the ban is there until more is learnt or known and the NFA is finalised.
There is no technical reason to ban the Adler. Its old technology, its not rapid fire or is depending on what you compare it with but certainly isn't rapid fire compared to many other legal firearms we have. Its not about high capacity because many legal firearms have greater capacity and aren't regarded as overly dangerous to the community. It also is a firearm that had nothing to do with Martin Place or Port Arthur.
What we can say is this over reaction was ill conceived, poorly understood and made some people look like fools. There was no consultation and without the Nioa torture test it would probably would have come in untouched, unchallenged and got the thumbs up. But this over reaction as poorly dreamt up by people asleep or drunk at the wheel as it is, should never have gotten as far as it has. The system is very flawed when poor decision making like this becomes unlegislated policy.
The system is not just flawed, it could be dangerously broken because we've witnessed Sovereign Over Reach where the Feds are enforcing their will upon the states. There are a number of good politicians who see this for what it is, dumber than bait and dangerous. The Shooters & Fishers Party haven't missed a beat. Nor have the Victorian Nationals who slammed this back in late July when things started over reaching. There are some federal MPs & Senators that are onto this too and making good noises about the stupidity of it all.
Ahhh not so good in Western Australia where the Nationals vow to continue "to balance the rights of lawful shooters with community safety". That's the sum total of their policy, seriously not a public word more on the matter. Feel well represented by intelligent law makers? Not one word for or against, no opposition to Sovereign Over reach by the Federal Government. No comments like their Victorian counterparts saying the import ban should be lifted and its should remain classed as Class A firearm because its not new, not high capacity, not rapid fire and each round has to be manually cycled. Victorian Nats all over this and were at the beginning at late July.
WA Nationals are out to lunch, complying with Liberal wishes and 3 of them are keeping their cabinet seats that grant them an extra $130,000 per year in the pay packet.
Poor over reaction to a badly misunderstood item and supporting Sovereign Over Reach by a different government in a different parliament. Complain loudly. The decent elected representatives in WA may have trouble hearing you over the din created at the Liberals and Nationals banging around in the lucrative trough.
Poor response to an issue that didn't exist and net result is Sovereign Over Reach.
Remember that term. It's coming for you.
Remember that term. It's coming for you.
