G'day Orsogato
I just happened to be "on air" when I saw your post.
We've sort of covered this before, and I don't want to bore the other TFLers, so if you don't mind I'll keep it brief.
SO let me get this straight if the license says you can only target shoot with your .308 m700 then you have to get another license to shoot Kangaroos or whatever you hunt down there with it?
That applies here in Western Australia; someone else will fill you in on the other States, I'm sure.
We have two "sorts" of licence; call one "unrestricted" and one "endorsed".
An endorsed licence only lets you shoot in accord with the endorsement; the most common is "range use only". This means what it says -- get caught using it for hunting and you are dead meat!
To get an "open" or "unrestricted" licence, you need written permission from landowners to shoot on their properties. The rub is that you only are "allowed" a calibre dependant on the size of the property and where it is. For say 1000 acres down south, you
might be allowed a .222 or .223. For 200 000 acres up north, you could probably get a .308 or even heavier. If you have a "range only" licence, you can get it made "open" by producing letters at a later date.
Incidentally, if you want to shoot a kangaroo, better make sure you have a "tag" from the Department of Conservation and Land Management -- otherwise, they're protected.
Feral pests (rabbits, foxes, goats, pigs, feral cats, donkeys, camels) are the usual shooters' targets (and deer on the eastern coast).
I imagine the gun laws are pretty tight in New Zealand too.
Surprisingly, not so. Compared to much of the USA, they are harder, yes. But compared to Australia they are a dream. I
believe NZ had long gun registration and then repealed it because the police said
it didn't work! Now there's commonsense at work!
p.s. can you own firearms that are chambered for military cartridges, i.e. 9mm, .308, .223, .30-06', .45ACP etc.?
Yes, military calibres
are allowed.
All centrefires are difficult to get a licence for, from a .22 Hornet upwards. With
very few exceptions, there is NO CCW in Australia. It is extraordinarily difficult for the average person to get a handgun licence, and it can
ONLY be used for target/range work and you
must be a member of a recognised gun club and have what is called "F1" support from them.
There is an active push to ban handguns totally, and, in the interim, have IPSC and Western Action shooting shut down, because they "glorify killing" and are not "legitimate" sports. Here in WA, even paintball is prohibited, although the police, sensibly, turn a blind eye. Nevertheless, they
could shut it down in an instant if they wanted to.
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What I believe will happen in the US, as it did here, is the public vilification and ridicule of shooters by the media --
ALL shooters. We are now politically incorrect, and daily on the radio I hear jokes against us as "rednecks", "idiots", "thickheads", "killers", "sexual inadequates" and worse.
If they can't get at you directly, they will get at you through your non-shooting friends, your workmates, your family and especially your children.
Believe me, you will no longer be openly
proud to be a shooter -- you will use all your powers of rational thinking and self-esteem, but you will still be made to feel "guilty", simply because you own a firearm.
There will be a concerted and deliberate push to remove shooting as a sport -- it's already been downgraded here for Govt funding from a sport to a "recreation".
Your children will be obstructed at every turn from taking up shooting -- because the authorities know without young people taking it up, shooting will die when this generation does.
And no, I'm not being paranoid -- this has
already happened in the UK, in Australia and is happening in Canada now.
Be aware
B
PS: Oh, spit --- this was meant to be
brief!! Sorry, I get a bit wound up once I get started.
[This message has been edited by Bruce from West Oz (edited August 13, 1999).]
