Liberal Democrats Senator David Leyonhjelm has had a major win for shooters in the Australian Senate today.
Shooters should be allowed access to the Adler A110 lever action shotgun in 12 months’ time, after Senator Leyonhjelm forced the Abbott Government to back down on a permanent ban. The deal also extracted a commitment from the Justice Minister to meet at least quarterly with representatives of shooters, something that ceased when the Firearms Advisory Committee was disbanded.
Senator Leyonhjelm turned the screws on the Government by threatening to support Labor amendments to migration legislation. He welcomed the concession from Justice Minister, Michael Keenan.
“As part of the deal, I was able to get a commitment from the government for regular consultation with firearms groups,” he said. “This is highly significant, and we hope it will head off foolish decisions like this before they see the light of day.”
The groups to be consulted include the Shooting Industry Foundation Australia, National Firearms Dealers Association, SSAA, Field and Game Australia, Shooting Australia, Shooters Union, and shooting associations from NSW and Victoria.
The Liberal Democrats ran a successful social media campaign on the back of the issue that was shared thousands of times by shooters and raised more than $8,000.
Senator Leyonhjelm has vowed to keep up the fight for shooters’ rights and will oppose any attempt to increase restrictions on lever action and pump action firearms via the review of the National Firearms Agreement.
