'no justification' for changing gun laws

Just what we need, more guns
No sure there will be some gun nut that can find some justification to have more guns in our cities, towns and homes but be dam if i can.



'No justification' for changing gun laws
December 14, 2008, 11:10 am
There is no justification for gun law changes that will allow domestic violence offenders to buy guns, the NSW Greens say.

Figures from the NSW Firearm Registry obtained by the National Coalition for Gun Control show gun ownership has risen by the rate of 10,000 a year since 2004 - to 687,138 in October this year.

The coalition says the rise coincides with a deal cut by the NSW government and the Shooters Party to water down tough gun laws introduced in the wake of Tasmania's Port Arthur massacre.

"There is no justification in the NSW Upper House when the Shooters Party put up the amendments," Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon told reporters in Sydney on Sunday, referring to amendments seeking to allow people subject to domestic violence orders to purchase guns.

"The attorney-general initially did not come in on the debate. I challenged him twice on the floor of the house that he had to give an explanation.

"Right now, we have a very dangerous situation in NSW."

National Coalition for Gun Control co-ordinator Sam Lee said there was a high risk of more weapons being sold on the black market and a repeat of the Port Arthur massacre.

"It is a simple equation. The more firearms in the community the more likely another massacre will occur," Ms Lee said.

"Firearms in the hands of legal shooters are likely to be stolen and fall into the black market."

News Ltd on Sunday said that despite the worrying ownership figures, the government and the Shooters Party had quietly agreed to a number of changes to gun laws introduced by former premier Bob Carr after the Port Arthur killings.

Shooting clubs would no longer have their licences automatically revoked for not disqualifying members who have been convicted of firearms offences.

In another change, the mandatory 28-day waiting period before a second or third gun could be acquired had also been scrapped.

Premier Nathan Rees told The Sunday Telegraph he was prepared to review gun laws to make it tougher for weapons to end up in the wrong hands