The Adler Shotgun Issue is, was and if we're not careful always will be a total debacle. There's been a decidedly poor lack of facts from both pro & anti gun groups which has skewed and faltered the likelihood of a good legislative outcome.
As it is, there has been attempts to try & get some sort of cross border legislative harmony on firearms but its still hodge-podge in places and nothing in the agreement is actually binding on any state.
With the Adler itself, well if you've fired one you might know a little about them. They are indeed an old design. Yes its an improved version but its not steam engine to current model Bugatti Veyron type improvements. If you've ever seen one pulled apart, well I guess its just not for me. Some earlier ones (possibly the current ones) had some plastic followers that, well I can't see them becoming a heirloom firearm based on performance. Icon status yes, performance & versatility no, not even close.
In fact although its a better built version of a 100+ Year Old Design, they're still an antiquated design with limited uses. These days lever actions (rifles at least) are either held by those who compete in Western Action, a highly competitive shooters sport or by recreational hunters/farmers who'd use them mainly for scrub hunting. Yes there are those that adapt them to whatever primary producer role quite adequately and those who chose them maybe did so because they like a nostalgic older looking firearm. There is nothing wrong with that. If you needed a 5 shot scatter gun & lever actions were placed in the same Category as pump actions or semi autos, most of the Lever Action Shotguns would disappear.
They're not the best shotgun, they're not the most versatile, they're not the most compact and they're not really all they're cracked up to be but they're not all bad either. Add to that list that there is no record of a firearms related crime ever been committed in the state of WA or this country by a criminal armed with a lever action anything...well its still to be proven they pose an elevated risk to public safety either.
Did I say debacle enough yet?
What they definitely have become is the poster boy & rallying point for dissent against the National Firearms Agreement by the Law Abiding Fire Owners. A non binding agreement which is viewed as being new restrictions that come down harder on Law Abiding Firearms Owners than they do upon criminals. When the Adler came out Noia torture tested 2 of them putting 5000 rounds through each them. Non stop to see what broke. Nothing. They filmed it, put it on Youtube and the rest is history. A less than great firearm was postered as the Cat A legal 8 shot 12 gauge. That's 7 in the tube magazine & one in the chamber. Cat A being the easiest to get. So yes Noia pre sold thousands before they were even in actual production.
A lesson for the ABC show Gruen if ever there was. How to package a 100+ year designed thing and make it desirable.
Then the import ban came & that meant they were legal to own, just couldn't import them.
They became the point of contention between Law Abiding Firearms Owners (LAFO) and the government & seen as a last ditch battleground.
The preferred firearms of criminals? Well there's a short list. Mostly it will be hand guns and sawn off double barrel shotguns due to their ease of concealment. Probably next on the list is back yard manufactured fully automatic centre fire guns, not much larger than a hand gun. In the case of most handguns, they're smuggled in from other countries. WA Police some years ago seized a "Street Sweeper" which is a large 12 gauge fully automatic shotgun with a large rotary magazine. Designed and built in South Africa they weren't built long as they were very unreliable and inaccurate. Seized in Perth, yet they have never been ordered nor sold in Australia. Its huge so however it was smuggled in it took effort. Picture gets clearer perhaps? Police raided several associates of outlaw motorcycles gangs and have found home made 9mm semi auto firearms. One seizure had over 30. No lever actions.
People worry about 3D printed guns. Don't be that alarmed, it'll be some time before you can 3D print a fully metal firearm and when you can such a firearm will probably be THE most expensive firearm in Australian history. In the meantime, anyone with the right hand tools can make one. You don't need expensive milling machines and lathes but that helps.
In any case, a lever action firearm is not easy to conceal. If you cut off the butt stock to make a pistol grip you won't be able to cycle the lever properly. Sounds odd but you just physically can't do it easily so any concerns about it being "rapid fire" are gone. If you saw off the barrel, it comes down to being a single shot or 3 shots at the most. At 28" or 711mm long, they're not a viable option for a concealable firearm.
Rapid fire? Not really. 2 experienced shooters have tested it and a 5 shot Adler versus a double barrel shotgun? Check youtube. Lots of people try the test.
2 shots, the Double barrel wins - Pull 2 triggers at once, fires 2 shots at once
5 shots, the Lever action wins
10 shots, its toss of a coin 50/50 who wins but if the double barrel has shell ejection when opening, the double barrel wins every time.
There's enough twisted facts from both sides and ignored facts from both sides to keep the to-ing & fro-ing going for some time. Thing is, its become a icon gun for Law Abiding Gun Owners, many of who went and bought one before the law was changed to "stick it up' em". The Lindt Café siege is often pointed to as a reasoning for strengthening gun laws & reclassifying lever action shotguns. That gunman was a deranged individual who'd never held a car licence nor a gun licence and was able to purchase an illegal pump action firearm & ammunition despite his long list of criminal offences. Yes bought on the black market. Gun laws were strengthened post Port Arthur and it didn't prevent the Lindt Cafe.
Some of the restrictions that came in as a result of the Port Arthur Massacre were needed and overdue however John Howard missed the mark there and then when it came to identifying the problem and then the solutions. That gun man was a deranged psychopath who had difficulty discerning reality from fantasy, according to his prison's mental health professional (a professor no less). Again he never had a driver's licence nor a gun licence and was able to easily buy 2 semi auto rifles and a shotgun.
In both cases there was a lot of very valid angst and fear in the community. In the case of the Port Arthur Massacre a huge firearms buy back campaign was implemented costing a reputed $500 Million. Sadly no extra money was pumped into mental health at all nor extra money & resources poured into combatting smugglers or the illegal gun trade.
Most recently the SFFP MP in WA's Upper House, Rick Mazza MLC put forward a disallowance motion regarding the move to put the Lever Action Shotguns into different Categories. Only 2 people in WA have the then legal modification to make the Adler a 7 shot. They'll be allowed to keep them as that under a grandfathering arrangement. As for everyone else that bought the modification parts and either haven't fitted them or haven't bothered telling anyone they've modified their Adler, well if they're caught they'll be in trouble. There's also the owners of other Lever Action Shotguns that have emerged in the last few years. Pardus, Uzkon, IAC, Chiappa, Winchester are just some although I doubt Winchester makes them anymore.
Sad part is, lot of legislative arguing and time spent re-categorising a firearm that hasn't been proven to cause any elevated risk to society nor been sought after by shooters on actual merit as a great firearm.
The 7 shot Adler or any other shotgun now, because of those 2 extra shots goes into the same category as a fully automatic machine gun and any other military firearm. Will it matter to shooters in WA? As the years roll by I doubt it. Life will go on. Will society be safer because of it. No evidence to suggest that at all & I can safely assume those wishing to commit armed crime will continue to do so. It does remain a fact that the vast majority of violent gun crime involve illegal guns, not stolen firearms.
In the case of some other jurisdictions farmers and pest controllers can obtain an Ag Permit to own and use (with restrictions) semi auto centrefire rifles. In WA that cannot happen because in WA a Cat D is prohibited except by Police or military. That exclusion includes Army, Navy, Air Force, Australian Customs, Federal Police, State police and Special Protective Services who protect federal politicians & foreign dignitaries. Need helicopter contract shooters with semi autos on your station country to control vermin?
Bad luck, they cannot enter the state.
To be honest & blunt I saw a lever action shotgun in a Terminator film once and I was stunned because I've never seen one before. Many American shooters wouldn't have either. So why did Arnie's character have one? So it could "Hollywood style" be fired whilst riding a motorcycle and then cycled for the next shot one handed.
Makes it seem more dangerous than any other shotgun. Biggest danger is actually trying to do that.
What Hollywood depicts rarely happens in real life.
So if you're pretty peeved about the disallowance motion being struck down, you should read all the speakers comments. I have.
I'm an SSAA member and to be honest I didn't think some of the things spoken in favour nor against the Disallowance were of much merit either. I'm not surprised to be honest and its not that it doesn't affect me that drives my indifference, its that its a big bun fight over a very ordinary firearm that isn't the least bit glorious nor going to elevate the threat level to society.
That tells me the Adler Debacle is not really that important when you look at that firearm. What is important is the other dud regulations that aren't easily sorted out to get the balance right. You know the balance?
Safety of society and the needs of LAFOs
Well its only my 2c worth so perhaps I deserve some change ;-)
Having said all that there are definitely some concessions that Law Abiding Firearm Owners SHOULD have...another day.
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