For any major political parties wondering why shooters get so upset ..
A quick look at what’s wrong at the NFA
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Combined Firearms Council of Victoria
Representing the political interests of 6 of Victoria's major shooting organisations
“Based on tree hugging”?! What is wrong with tree hugging???!!! I was all for sharing this as I am with all your posts, but I am not so sure about this one after that statement.
Perhaps someone could explain that statement to me, am I misinterpreting the comment?
Keith.
You are missing the point, tree hugging means description of a particular group.
Nothing to do with trees at all
All firearms owners are right to be wary, if not worried, by the Greens. However there is no guarantee that a vote for the Coalition will be of any value to firearm owners at all. The Tasmanian example where the elected Coalition government backed down on its planned firearms reforms is one example of the Coalition’s inability to follow through with any promises it makes. Also if any reform of firearms laws are proposed the party faithful all start screaming about “undoing the legacy of John Howard”. It’s a mantra for these deluded conservatives so don’t trust them ever.
As recent events in Canberra show the Coalition is now ruled by a small group of right wing conservative factions which has adopted US style reliance on the born again Christian vote plus anti-immigration white Australia devotees who have attempted to whip a panic over immigration levels. These people are a minority, they have no value to firearms owners because mainstream social and political thinking in Australia has shifted rendering them a right wing rump very much out of touch with current Australian thought. The 2019 federal election will see them dumped as they deserve to be for allowing a reactionary fool like Tony Abbott to continue to exert influence.
Now we see in Victoria the Coalition going into an election campaigning against voluntary assisted dying (passed by the Parliament) – a policy which has majority support. They nurture a deep held rejection of the SSM reforms (again passed without difficulty by parliament. They reject a supervised injection room for addicts in Richmond despite this being wholeheartedly supported by the medical profession and the local traders in Richmond. They have no education policies except apparently that Shakespeare must be required reading and there should be no discussion in schools of contentious issues. And on top of the same insidious extreme Christian groups have won a measure of control.
In fact their policies are best summed up as supporting One Nation and Corey Bernardi’s idiotic Australian Conservatives rather than accepting the simple fact that Australians have shown an overwhelming progressive centrist view of what is required of government. So what makes firearms owners think that this party of political dinosaurs is going to overturn Howard era gun policies.
The reality is that responsible firearms owners vote for other things which are also of importance like economic stability, job growth, better education and better infrastructure provision. No one with any brains is rushing to vote for a Coalition that wants to return us to the mythical white picket fence Australia of the 1950s.
Personally speaking I suggest that firearms owners learn to deal with Labor because they will have to. The Coalition will, if elected, not reform firearm policies – the Tasmanian example proves that. In recent years the Nationals despite all sorts of claims have done nothing for firearms owners preferring instead to simply follow their Liberal Party leaders.
Yes the Greens are a problem and yes we don’t want them but the Greens are going into this election beset by their own issues both in Victoria and in Canberra. The attempt by Senator Hanson-Young to set herself up as independent of Green Party wishes, and the rejection of Lee Rhiannon in NSW demonstrate deep divisions federally. While locally it is clear that sexual harassment issues plus selecting poor candidates to run has cut into their support. My suggestion is use your preferences to put the Greens last but don’t preference the Coalition ahead of Labor. We firearms owners stand a better chance with Labor than with the Coalition.