Copyright 2002 Nationwide News Pty Limited
Weekly Times
November 13, 2002, Wednesday
SECTION: SPORT; Pg. 73
LENGTH: 778 words
HEADLINE: Coming to terms with firearms
BYLINE: ROSS WILLIAMS
BODY:
MOST sporting firearms are illegal in Australia. The reason is simple: bans on "semi-automatic" firearms are widespread but the bans, being couched in incorrect and ill-defined terms, apply to virtually all firearms now in existence.
Yes, nearly all firearms are semi-automatic. Here the prefix semi- means "partly" or "to some extent", so semi-automatic firearms are those that perform some operations automatically. For example, modern single-barrelled and double-barrelled shotguns cock automatically when we close them. At the same time, their safety catches automatically shift to "on". Therefore, these shotguns are semi-automatic.
Bolt-action rifles also cock automatically on closure. When we open the bolt, we do not have to remove the spent or live cartridge with our fingers. The bolt extracts and ejects the cartridge automatically. Therefore, bolt-action rifles are semi-automatic.
The list of examples goes on and on.
Originally the bans were aimed at firearms that reload themselves after each shot until their magazines are empty, using recoil energy or bled-gas pressure for the motive force. The correct (and unambiguous) term for such firearms, however, is self-loading -- yet most state laws and regulations fail to employ it.
Thus, our firearms laws are now a legal minefield.
Regrettably, our legislators and those who draft the legislation have a knack of spawning problems, thanks to their ignorance of real firearms and the world of shooting.
A classic instance was in the first draft of the Cain Government's changes to the Victorian Firearms Act. As reported in this column at the time, the definition of firearm was so loose that aerosol cans would have become firearms. Had this definition survived, Victorians would have needed a shooter's licence in order to possess and use cans of deodorant, hairspray, flyspray and paint.
Though one in every four Australian households has at least one firearm, ignorance about firearms is widespread. So it's not surprising that people in the media are captives of the same ignorance.
We've all heard news readers pronounce the words "point two-two calibre rifle". But an experienced rifle shooter would never say that, for several reasons.
In firearms parlance, the decimal point is written but not said aloud. Thus .22 is pronounced as twenty-two, .38 is simply thirty-eight, and so on.
Actually, a .22 calibre rifle does not exist. The description means a rifle with a barrel whose length is only .22 or 22 per cent of its bore diameter. In other words, the barrel would look like a washer rather than a tube, and most of the cartridge would be hanging out front in the open air.
To describe the nominal bore size, we should place the word "calibre" first, and speak of a calibre .22 rifle.
Yet even this change would not get the newsreader or journalist out of trouble. The description still does not say whether the rifle is a rimfire or a centrefire because different firearms come under these headings. Furthermore, many chalk-and-cheese options exist in each category.
Even though firearm is the correct generic term, many non-shooters ignore it. They talk of guns. But what does gun really mean?
In the military context, a gun is a class of heavy field artillery. As far as sporting firearms are concerned, a gun is a smooth-bored firearm, designed to fire a charge of pellets while held at the shoulder. Thus gun and shotgun mean the same thing.
A rifle is vastly different from a gun. Though it, too, is fired from the shoulder, it has spiral grooves inside the barrel and fires a single projectile. Rifles and guns cannot do the same work.
Pistols and revolvers are handguns, although they usually have rifled barrels, or side arms when used by police, security guards or the armed forces.
Pistol covers all handguns when used as an adjective, as in pistol licence or pistol club. On its own, however, the word refers only to self-loading and single-shot types. Revolvers fire their cartridges from separate chambers in a revolving cylinder.
In summary, gun has a long-established, limited and specific meaning when used as a noun. Less than half of our sporting firearms are guns.
In fishing, fly casting, trolling, spinning and jigging are different techniques. No angler will use these words as though they meant the same. In golf, the wood, iron and putter are different tools for different situations, and to say a golfer is driving when he or she is putting or chipping would be ludicrous. The sportswriter who made such blues would quickly lose others' respect.
Why, then, are people afraid to use shooting terms correctly?
Weekly Times
November 13, 2002, Wednesday
SECTION: SPORT; Pg. 73
LENGTH: 778 words
HEADLINE: Coming to terms with firearms
BYLINE: ROSS WILLIAMS
BODY:
MOST sporting firearms are illegal in Australia. The reason is simple: bans on "semi-automatic" firearms are widespread but the bans, being couched in incorrect and ill-defined terms, apply to virtually all firearms now in existence.
Yes, nearly all firearms are semi-automatic. Here the prefix semi- means "partly" or "to some extent", so semi-automatic firearms are those that perform some operations automatically. For example, modern single-barrelled and double-barrelled shotguns cock automatically when we close them. At the same time, their safety catches automatically shift to "on". Therefore, these shotguns are semi-automatic.
Bolt-action rifles also cock automatically on closure. When we open the bolt, we do not have to remove the spent or live cartridge with our fingers. The bolt extracts and ejects the cartridge automatically. Therefore, bolt-action rifles are semi-automatic.
The list of examples goes on and on.
Originally the bans were aimed at firearms that reload themselves after each shot until their magazines are empty, using recoil energy or bled-gas pressure for the motive force. The correct (and unambiguous) term for such firearms, however, is self-loading -- yet most state laws and regulations fail to employ it.
Thus, our firearms laws are now a legal minefield.
Regrettably, our legislators and those who draft the legislation have a knack of spawning problems, thanks to their ignorance of real firearms and the world of shooting.
A classic instance was in the first draft of the Cain Government's changes to the Victorian Firearms Act. As reported in this column at the time, the definition of firearm was so loose that aerosol cans would have become firearms. Had this definition survived, Victorians would have needed a shooter's licence in order to possess and use cans of deodorant, hairspray, flyspray and paint.
Though one in every four Australian households has at least one firearm, ignorance about firearms is widespread. So it's not surprising that people in the media are captives of the same ignorance.
We've all heard news readers pronounce the words "point two-two calibre rifle". But an experienced rifle shooter would never say that, for several reasons.
In firearms parlance, the decimal point is written but not said aloud. Thus .22 is pronounced as twenty-two, .38 is simply thirty-eight, and so on.
Actually, a .22 calibre rifle does not exist. The description means a rifle with a barrel whose length is only .22 or 22 per cent of its bore diameter. In other words, the barrel would look like a washer rather than a tube, and most of the cartridge would be hanging out front in the open air.
To describe the nominal bore size, we should place the word "calibre" first, and speak of a calibre .22 rifle.
Yet even this change would not get the newsreader or journalist out of trouble. The description still does not say whether the rifle is a rimfire or a centrefire because different firearms come under these headings. Furthermore, many chalk-and-cheese options exist in each category.
Even though firearm is the correct generic term, many non-shooters ignore it. They talk of guns. But what does gun really mean?
In the military context, a gun is a class of heavy field artillery. As far as sporting firearms are concerned, a gun is a smooth-bored firearm, designed to fire a charge of pellets while held at the shoulder. Thus gun and shotgun mean the same thing.
A rifle is vastly different from a gun. Though it, too, is fired from the shoulder, it has spiral grooves inside the barrel and fires a single projectile. Rifles and guns cannot do the same work.
Pistols and revolvers are handguns, although they usually have rifled barrels, or side arms when used by police, security guards or the armed forces.
Pistol covers all handguns when used as an adjective, as in pistol licence or pistol club. On its own, however, the word refers only to self-loading and single-shot types. Revolvers fire their cartridges from separate chambers in a revolving cylinder.
In summary, gun has a long-established, limited and specific meaning when used as a noun. Less than half of our sporting firearms are guns.
In fishing, fly casting, trolling, spinning and jigging are different techniques. No angler will use these words as though they meant the same. In golf, the wood, iron and putter are different tools for different situations, and to say a golfer is driving when he or she is putting or chipping would be ludicrous. The sportswriter who made such blues would quickly lose others' respect.
Why, then, are people afraid to use shooting terms correctly?