Horror buyback stories
The action pictured above is from a Winchester 1903. A lovely simple gun that is now well over a century old. Sam lost it when he was 19, in John Howard’s gun buyback.
A few days ago we asked readers for their stories from gun buybacks. We have four to share with you.
Sam’s 1903 Winchester: Sam lost his Winchester 1903 semi auto when he was 19. It barely worked, but he had put a lot of effort into keeping it functional, with so much character and history behind the varnish. As Sam put it “It really pissed me off that I had to hand it in”.
Vaughn’s 4 shot Beretta: Vaughn’s father had a custom ordered Beretta 4 shot pump action shotgun which he had owned for over 30 years. Not only did Vaughn and his father lose the gun, but got a fraction of its value due to problems with police valuations. The loss of his father’s pride and joy was devastating and he was dismayed until his death at the future of the Australian culture. To add insult to injury, Vaughn owned cheap Chinese four shot pump action shot gun which was compensated to the same value. Now he’s got a lever action given to him by his first ever employer as a bonus, which he might lose through no fault or action of his own or consultation, driven by an “uneducated, rash, knee jerk decision to change the laws to placate a noisy minority group with no regard for the Australian rural community history and culture”.
Those who served us: Neville helped deliver surrendered firearms to the regional buyback center in Shepparton during the 96 buyback. He saw grown men who had served our country and had handled far more than the rifles and shotguns he was collecting, weep as they were handing them in. He recalled one elderly gentleman who had handed in his father’s A5 Browning shotgun which he had won as a trophy. Good on you, Mr Howard…
Jack’s 1935 handgun: During the 2003, Jack lined up at the Geelong buyback center to hand in a 1935 handgun (not sure which type) because of it’s barrel length. Jack had recently had a triple bypass operation but discharged himself early because he was required to surrender his gun as his wife wasn’t licensed to surrender it for him. Jack did that. He died around 3 months later.
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