Hey Les, thank you for your commitment to the sport and the work that goes into making it better. As far as the new firearms rules go, there are aspects of the execution of these rules that the SSAA needs to stay ahead of. A couple of the key questions are:-

What determines a “sport shooter / target shooter”, that is, someone who qualifies for 10 firearms instead of just 4? Given that the SSAA has a larger representation of hunting members than target shooters, SSAA membership on its own is not likely to be enough. So what will be required, most disciplines don’t have “membership” per se, so how can you prove you are active in the sport, can competition attendances be submitted to the Firearms Registry, and would this be adequate? Will club comps like Silverale or Canberra be enough? Will membership to a specific target club or association be required?

It says on the NSW Firearms Registry website that, at the Commissioner’s discretion, more than 10 firearms may be allowed for “sport shooters / target shooters”. Who makes this decision and how is the determination made? How could you apply for such an exemption and what proof will be required?

Is it time for the SSAA to issue disciple membership cards so that shooters can prove they are target shooters?

While it’s important for the SSAA and other interested parties to continue to fight against these new rushed laws, I think it’s also important, given that they will be implemented, to exert influence on how they will be implemented and to think about what future changes might look like because I believe that we have not seen the end of government attacks on our sport!

In SA we did a ring around to the various Discipline Chairmen (in SA) to find out how many firearms would be needed if they were to attend their National Championships and shoot in every match. The results were amazing! For Benchrest one would potentially need 10 firearms (we are not counting switch barrel arrangements). For one of the pistol disciplines they would need 20. Black powder could be up to 18. And so on.

We have an election due here in March this year and although Labor have a big majority here I don't think they will be making too many moves before then. 

Just a couple of scenarios that could apply

*Would these changes potentially require competitive shooters to set up genuine registered associations with fair trading, basically a legal Club entity, requiring a committee and members.

*Is being a member of SSAA Sydney classify as being in a Club ? If so the above wouldn’t be required but SSAA Sydney would have to able to prove if someone was in fact a competitive shooter as opposed to just a hunter.
*Could the 4 gun restriction potentially see an influx of Hunters moving into competitive shooting only to justify larger rifle ownership and in doing so, how do they prove they are in fact participating in genuine competition and how often would this need to occur to satisfy registry and the Commissioner 

Somme food for thought