“You need a lot of firepower”: Why gun laws have farmers worried about pest control

The Australian federal government passed new gun laws this week in response to the terror attack at Bondi Beach on December 14.

The new laws, along with Victoria’s review of its own firearm legislation, will tighten background checks and fund a national gun buyback scheme.

One of the laws being considered by the state government is to limit the number of firearms that may be held by an individual.

This proposal has raised concerns from farmers and gun club members who say they are being unfairly targeted in the aftermath of the Bondi terror attack.

What is the federal government’s new gun legislation?

On Tuesday night the federal government passed a suite of new gun laws that will:

• Fund a national gun buyback, with the specifics of the buyback to be settled with the states and territories;

• Strengthen background checks;

• Restrict non-citizens from importing firearms;

• Tighten importation rules around straight-pull rifles, shotguns, handguns and gel blasters, and remove open-ended permissions to import firearms, and;

• Add new offences for sharing or downloading online instructions for how to make or modify weapons.

What is Victoria doing in response?

The state government also announced a review of its gun laws on December 21, to be led by former Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Ken Lay.

The review will consider restricting the types of firearms and gun modifications that are legal, introducing Australian citizenship as a condition for holding a firearms licence and limiting the number of firearms that can be owned by an individual.

Public consultation for the review closes on February 3.

What impact could the new laws have on farmers?

Neerim South dairy farmer Dave Johnson told the Monitor he’s concerned the new laws will restrict the amount of guns he’s able to own - making it harder for him to control pests.

• 🗣️ “Every pest requires a different [gun] - a rabbit you'll shoot with a 22 [calibre] but for deer and foxes you need bigger calibre guns for that.”

He also allows hunters on his property to help drive pest numbers down.

“There are so many feral animals around at the moment,” Johnson said. “I've got foxes and rabbits everywhere.”

• 🗣️“You need a lot of firepower to control pests, and the state and federal governments are not controlling them.”

Johnson said the only other time he uses a gun is to euthanise a cow, “every now and again”.

Are gun club guns different?

Victorian Muzzle Loaders Club President and Gippsland resident John Wakely told the West Vic Brolga there should be restrictions on a range of weapons, but lumping every gun into the same category was a mistake.

• 🗣️“There are a lot of firearms in society that really shouldn't be there: high capacity, rapid-fire shotguns and high-velocity ammunition. They have a place for pest controllers and farmers, but people like me and the average Joe, I don't think so.”

Wakely said the guns used by most gun clubs are fundamentally different to rapid-fire guns. 

“I think there's about 16 separate steps in loading a muzzle loading, flint lock or percussion firearm. They're not huge rates of fire.”

Cover image credit: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas.