Friday, 25 February 2022

"But why?" Possible Implications Of New Firearms Laws. And yes "But why?" indeed

 A mate who lives and works on a remote property got in touch. If just the section on a rifle/shotgun stock becoming a Major Firearm Part goes through, he could be in trouble.

Long ago he bought a 2nd hand rifle that is chambered in .308
It is a fairly good rifle but was factory sold with one of the cheapest polumer/plastic stocks.
He either had to pull it apart & "glass bed" the stock to make it more rigid & therefore more accurate or replace the stock. He did the latter & replace it with a Magpul stock. He undid 2 screws, swapped stocks, did two screws up using a Torque Screwdriver to the required torque rating in the simple instructions.

Job done.
Superior stock, better ergonomics, easier to hold (safer).
It also meant he no longer had a fixed floorplate magazine which has to be fed in from the top. 
It held 4 rounds was hard to clean thoroughly because some partial disassembly is required.
Now on the new stock it has drop box magazine or detachable magazine that legally hold 10 rounds but he never puts more than 9 in it (thats just his thing).
Magazines are simple and easy to clean, no rifle disassembly required.
If he needs more than 4 shots for a mob of ferals he's now able to do his job.

New stock is better for recoil & all round is a better, safer set up.

If the new laws pass on a stock becoming a "Major Firearms Part" he's in a jam.
He asked

"Do I destroy the old stock or will I have to drive a few hours to the nearest police station to surrender the old bare stock or drive it 800+ kms to the nearest repairer to surrender it or drive even further to the nearest gun shop to surrender it?"


As he said, "Because if I continue to keep the empty stock I'm breaking the law"

I said my understanding is you can apply to the Police Commissioner to get retrospective permission to keep the stock and he quite rightly replied...

"But why? We all clog up Firearms Branch over a lump of harmless plastic or wood, we have to wait for approval & it may actually cost us to apply. We do have better things to do and the fact remains, I'm not from nor do I know of anyone in an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang or a Terrorist or a Domestic Violence Offender. Why are they coming after me when I do everything by the book?"

At this point I changed my mind. I figure this particular change was a pain but gotta do what we gotta do. But he's quite right its not proportionate, is unnecessary, unwarranted, served no real purpose, reduced no risk or hazard, was not reasonable and really was about over reach on lawful people & would reduce the effectiveness of the Firearm's Branch's clean up rate of applications.

I said  the first thing they might ask is why do you need to keep it.
He said its kept for two reasons.
One he needs a spare even if its not as good as the updated one. He needs to be able to make the rifle usable if the new stock is damaged. He cannot jump in the car & drive for hours, hire a motel room if he's lucky to get it fixed straight away and then drive back the next day. Other reason, if/when he goes to sell the firearm, he plans to refit the original stock which looks brand new & keep his old stock for either just a barrelled action or swap out on a new rifle.
Makes perfect sense.

I said playing devil's advocate he need only apply to the Police Commissioner for permission to have both stocks. Apparently the minister say approval would take a few days, no longer.

My friend clearly & quite rightly said.
"But why? Doesn't matter if it takes 12 seconds over the phone, why? Its a part that is not involved in OMGs, Terrorism or Domestic Violence. Why are they not going after OMGs, Terrorists & Domestic Violence Abusers as they'd get my full & complete support. I'm not those dregs, just target that scum"

He went on to succinctly say
"So if there's a spate of OMG crimes, terrorism or domestic violence will they be checking the Police database to see who has a spare plastic rifle stock to build a picture of potential offenders? It's off the hook mad. They didn't consult with anyone from a firearms background, this is off the hook stuff and is rules for rules sake, no real purpose is served, no advantage is gained"

He's right & that ought to be enough to drop the stocks becoming a major firearms part. Ought to be.

He then said.
"There's a number of us here on this place with licenced firearms, no one at all has anything illegal & unlicenced, its not allowed. We have to to be 100% law kosher on everything. That's a good thing, it protects all of us. Pain is, we all have to have our own seperate gun safe. There was a big gun safe here and it's as old as the hills. It was here long before gun safes were even required and all guns on the property were always required to be stored in it. Now we all have to have our own safe with our own keys. It's not a problem, a pain sometimes, but its the law & its no problem. Trouble is I have several rifles & a shotgun. I have spare stocks for all of them for the same reasons. I wanted better, safer more durable ones & the old ones are kept as spares or for the day I trade them in or sell them outright. The shotgun has 3 stocks. One is the crappy original, one for shooting ferals out the ute window & one if I'm standing, on foot. If I know which is more likely I just undo the detach screws and swap them over"

I thought I knew why he does that, but to be clear & certain I asked why
"Well simple in the ute you have a different 'length of pull' than when you're on foot standing so you need either a stock with an adjustable length of pull or you just swap the stocks out beforehand. So much easier on the shoulder and makes it easier to safely aim"

For those unaware, length of pull is the term for the distance between the rear of the action the shoulder pad. When you aim sitting down facing out a ute window you need a much shorter length of pull than standing where you can get to the proper standing position. if you have a scope or other optics its even more of a thing. It means in a ute you cannot get behind the scope and sometimes when you do with the incorrect length of pull your eye is close to the scope but the guns shoulder pad isn't in the pad of your shoulder.
That means very poor "recoil management" (shooters term) which potentially means you're at greater risk of get "ring eyed" or "scoped eyed". The recoil pushes the scope into your eye socket.
Yes its a thing.

I then asked the question  I think most non shooters are unaware of.
What about an adjustable stock with adjustable length of pull and he sensibly said.

"But why? On the rifle I'd have to buy an expensive chassis system as a stock. Which is fine but then I'd have to fork out extra money, get it posted here & fit it. And guess what, if this goes through & stocks become a major firearms part, it can't be posted to me, I don't have a dealers licence. If this legislation goes through I'll have to get permission now before I buy it & hope I get it, work out how to get it to me, then apply to keep the old stocks as spare parts or hand them in. Its a mess no one needs, it serves no purpose & puts us where we don't need to be to raise public safety. I mean mate, I gotta say again, I'm not a bikie, have nothing to do with them or terrorist or wife beaters. Nothing. Same with the others here. Why fix something thats not broken and make it more costly & more broken in the process? Why target us and not the bad scum?

On the shotgun, I'm not sure if stock with an adjustable length of pull is legal in WA. It is in most states but not in NSW. Got to have a fixed stock there but adjustable is ok in Queensland. A mate that straddles the border genuinely has a NSW Shottie & and Queensland Shottie so he doesn't break the law. How dumb is that, got to have more guns to be legal?"






And as he said, this is just the rifle stocks. Somehow this is only targeting Bikies, Terrorists & Domestic Violence Offenders but applies to ALL LAW ABIDING FIREARMS OWNERS.

Here's a crazy idea. Get caught in possession a single illegally manufactured firearm, a single stolen firearm, a single smuggled in firearm...10 or even 20 years jail minimum, no parole.
If there's more than one illegal firearm, double the penalty for each addtional firearm. 

Get caught committing a crime with any firearm at all, 20-25 years jail minimum, no parole
If you're committed multiple offences double the penalty with each convicted offence and that is in addition to the possession penalty.

Does not impact on legal law abiding firearms owners, does not tempt lawful owners to secretly keep a newly unapproved harmless stock which technically has now converted a lawful person in to a criminal.
If you are targeting Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, Terrorists & Domestic Violence Offenders who are committing crimes with organised crime, terrorism or Domestic Violence with a bare plastic stock, charge them not those who obey the law. Target the criminals with no effect on law keepers at all.

************************************************************************

Late edit, I have no problem with a Station Owner or Station Worker having a sidearm for work, for safety. For those unaware, they can apply for a side arm or in other words a pistol that can only be used on the property due to the highly dangerous nature of some animals.
Some station people have them, some don't. Their choice. I'm fine with that.

Here's where it gets odd. If they have for example a Smith & Wesson .357 revolver at work they cannot take that revolver & compete at a club. No, they have to apply to the Firearm's Branch and get another firearm. Why would they compete? Many reasons for both social & competition benefits but in doing so, they become far more proficient & safe with the firearm. If they were fairly safety focused before joining a gun club, they'll be super safe once they join.
They'll pick up better maintanance & safety training.

But now, Joe Jackaroo & Jane Jilleroo will have to join the club, stay in the club 6 months, then apply to get a gun, wait for permission and then pay & pick it up. It will be an identical firearm. That new club only gun cannot be used on the station, its club use only.

That additional gun will cost him retail around $1700.00 without extra costs, application fees, freight etc.

Imagine that, to be safer for the public a person wanting to compete at a club has to spend $1700+ they didn't need to, ending up with an extra gun they may or may not want.

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