Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party MLC’s Robert Borsak and Mark Banasiak have had a huge win for shooters and firearms owners in NSW. As a result of calling out the Firearms Registry for the bigotry, discrimination, and lack of consultation in the recently released Health Risk Assessment form been withdrawn.
Mr Borsak said, “The entire development of this document was hidden in the dark, lied about, and dropped on the public just after Christmas. It was not revealed to the shooting community in order to have the greatest impact.”
“It was designed to remove as many Firearms Licences from legitimate licence holders through a fishing exercise that strong arms GPs into revealing any and all health conditions that the licence holder may have without referring to the specific health issue that Registry were allegedly concerned about” said Borsak.
Mr Banasiak said, “Even more concerning were the guidelines for practitioners that included profiling via age, hygiene, grooming, tattoos and scars. If a tradie goes to visit their GP after an honest day’s work on the tools and they’re a bit dirty does that make them unfit for a licence? How is knee replacement or skin cancer scar a red flag for criminal intent? And how many NSW Police officers have beards, moustaches and tattoos. This form of discrimination is illegal and a disgrace.”
Robert Borsak said, “Shooters, Fishers & Farmers pointed letter to the Minister and forthright questions in Parliament have led to a swift response by the Firearms Registry. Only through our advocacy has there been a revision and we look forward to the new draft document which will be delivered to us this afternoon.”
Borsak and Banasiak pledge to continue challenging the Minister and Commissioner on this critical issue and will be keeping a close eye on the Firearms Registry to ensure consultation is continual and correct. This what Shooters, Fishers and Farmers do and have done for the last 30 years.
Media Release: Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party
