By Gun Control Australia: A Wet Finger in the Wind
The Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia says Gun Control Australia exploits and amplifies anxiety about firearms to cynically leverage their minor influence in the Australian firearms management space.
“GCA holds a wet finger to the wind and holds a million Australians hostage to its ill-conceived campaigns in the vague name of public health,” SIFA Communications and Research head Laura Patterson says.
“Its latest campaign to ban shooting on school-owned assets is a clear play for space and relevance at a time when Australian competitive shooting is undergoing a renaissance ahead of the Toyko Olympics,” she says.
“If our emerging athletes are stopped from honing their skills in patience, persistence and precision Australia’s international sporting medal tally will stall, and for what? This is a rather sad cry for relevance in a contemporary Australia that has spent a quarter of a century living within an extremely strict regulatory and compliance environment,” Patterson says.
“If GCA are serious about public health, it should get behind SIFA’s push for an ongoing National Firearms Amnesty which is both evidence-based and tackles the very real problem of criminal firearms use,” she says.
“Stop targeting schools and do something to tackle the real issues,” Patterson says.
