The Bondi Massacre: bungling all round with gun owners (and taxpayers) now set up as scapegoats

· Once, when I sold one of my farms, I advised authorities of the change of address. They nevertheless still sent my licence renewal to my former address so that I overlooked renewal. The result was that one day I was telephoned by the NSW Police demanding that I surrender all my firearms because I had become unlicensed. I was required to apply for a new licence from scratch. It took nearly four months and several hundred dollars in storage costs before I got my firearms back. This was all despite officialdom being substantially at fault.

· Howard era restrictions on shotguns, which until Bondi had not featured in massacres, went too far. Pump action shotguns with five round capacity (technically the best multi-shot non-automatic shotguns) should have been less severely curtailed. Their banning for most shooters merely led to inferior actions (lever action, straight pull) of similar magazine capacity being bought instead. Regulators must have been watching too many Hollywood movies.

It is difficult to see what a cap on the number of weapons an individual can own is going to achieve. A terrorist was never going to walk down the road with half a dozen rifles and shotguns under each arm. One well-chosen weapon with sufficient ammunition is the obvious option, as during war. The cap will prove extremely costly but achieve nothing. Families may get round the cap to some degree by registering guns to more than one family member.

The Howard Government's mandatory gun buyback programme removed and destroyed more than 650,000 firearms. The buyback cost $304 million in compensation and $63 million in administration. The Government increased the Medicare levy from 1.5% to 1.7% of income for one year to finance the 1996 programme. In addition, thousands of guns were simply surrendered under amnesty. Huge waste occurred through the destruction of guns of significant second-hand value (many subsequently replaced by other permitted models), and from police time wasted in undue monitoring of "safe storage".

Prime Minister Albanese announced another national buyback scheme just before Christmas, which may see a much bigger buyback than under Howard. The states and territories will be responsible for collecting, processing and paying individuals, with the Australian Federal Police responsible for destruction. The cost of the scheme will be shared on a 50-50 basis with the States. One estimate puts the likely cost at $15 billion, though that figure seems excessive. It is only taxpayers' money anyway so what matter!

Much of the shooting fraternity is livid at not only what has been done but also because of its apparent futility, undue haste and lack of consultation. Our police forces are already short-staffed, and it is doubtful that they have the resources to enforce all the new regulations without compromising other duties.

Many people in major cities fail to realise is that there is no Opera House, musical theatre, or major arts centre in country towns. At best there are pubs and clubs. On the other hand, fishing and shooting are huge recreations in country areas, with almost all larger towns having a gun club. Clay pigeon and target shooting are very popular and have contributed to Australia's Olympic successes. Shooting is Australia's sixth most successful Summer Olympic and Paralympic sport.

The need to control feral animal numbers is also not sufficiently appreciated by city folk. In Canberra there are organised annual protests by animal activists against government kangaroo culls, despite the only real alternative being a continuing horrendous and cruel slaughter on the roads. Activists also alternate between advocating that farmers (for environmental reasons) graze kangaroos instead of cattle and sheep to effectively promoting the opposite. Activists have successfully campaigned to have kangaroo products (mainly meat and leather) banned in many overseas markets.

Specialist firearms are needed for particular tasks, analogous to anglers' need for different types of fishing rods. Anglers have specialist rods for fly fishing, beach fishing, spinning, deep sea fishing, boat fishing etc. Similarly, rimfire guns (.17, .22, .22 WRM etc) are used for short-range shooting of small animals, .17 Remington (or similar) for long distance fox shooting, shotguns for birds and clay pigeon shooting, .222 to about .270 for medium sized animals, carbines for scrub shooting, and large calibres for long distance deer, buffalo and other large animals. Larger calibres are also better in windy conditions over long distances. In addition, specialist guns are used in target competitions (and competitors may need to own several).

A lot of antique and historic army guns have been handed down or collected. It would be a shame for such heritage to be destroyed for no good reason other than an arbitrary cap on the number of guns an individual can own.

People also forget that a lot of farms are owned by persons resident in cities and towns. A lot of city dwellers also have strong links to the country. Four in ten NSW firearms licence holders live in major cities, with a further four in ten living in inner regional areas.

The kneejerk reaction of "progressive" politicians to any perceived problem is to pass yet more freedom-limiting laws that never work. The Albanese, WA, and NSW Labor governments have recently proven true-to-type. They have set up licensed gun owners as scapegoats to any gun violence but continue to ignore issues of immigration, criminal gangs, and religious extremism. Labor also panders to the "nervous-Nellie" mentality which has been around since the emergence of COVID.