Tuesday, 23 February 2010 22:59

On Friday 19th February some members of the SSAA State executive and I attended a meeting with the officials in Firearms Branch. The purpose of this meeting was to try and ascertain the full story about what is happening in South Australia with large calibre firearms. There were five Firearms Branch officers present.

In answer to my first question about large calibre firearms Chief Inspector Langmead informed us that there is not a blanket ban on these types of firearms, rather that now anyone wanting to keep one or apply for a Permit to Acquire would have to justify it proving that they have a “Genuine need/Reason” for owning firearms of those calibres. Chief Inspector Langmead told us of his reservations about the size of the game we can hunt in South Australia and expressed his concerns about clubs allowing use of these large calibre firearms on club grounds.

When asked about compensation for the people who legally owned this style of firearm he responded with “there is no provision in the firearms act for compensation”, he then informed us that he is willing to allow the firearms to be sold interstate or overseas so that the owner can recover some of their money.

Chief Inspector Langmead also stated that if the owners were willing to have the firearms rebarelled or rechambered to a calibre that is not “on the list” then that would be acceptable.

He informed us that 2 out of the 3 seized rifles had been given to a dealer for sale interstate. We questioned them on what would a “genuine Need/Reason” be. The short answer is that it will be very hard to prove genuine need, He will not accept hunting interstate as a genuine need and stated that he could not endorse the use of a rifle outside his jurisdiction.

Whilst we were there we submitted a proposal for use of large calibre guns at Para. They seemed reasonably amicable about it but only time will tell.
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David McCarthy
President SSAA SA Inc.

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