INTERNATIONAL EXPERTISE: The one key thing the WA review committee didn’t seek

IN THIS EPISODE, we look at the failure of the WA Government to pay attention to international ‘best practice’ when it comes to the target shooting sports.  The International Shooting Sports Federation, or ISSF, is made up of 149 countries and looks after the training, competition, safety and other aspects of shooting right through to the Olympics and World Cups.  It is represented here by Shooting Australia– which didn’t even get an invitation to explain how the shooting sports work at the recent WA hearings on the new Firearms Act.  It was the elephant in the room that the committee did not see - andII would be like failing to invite the Australian Medical Association to hearings about proper medical practices, or the International Pilots Association to hearings about aviation safety. Even the chair of the committee seemed oblivious to how the sports are organised - until she heard from Murray Bow from the Western Australian Shooting Association. WE SPEAK with Murray about the bungling of the laws and how they affect shooters needing to enter WA and training shooters within clubs. Plus we look at the key issue of licensing junior shooters, in the face of calls by anti-gun groups to have the minimum age raised to 18.  We delve into why this was an unrealistic call from narcissistically obsessed (and self-appointed) ‘community safety’ representatives whose only exposure to firearms is what they see on TV, rather than looking at what happens in the other 148 ISSF countries. Or how Aussie heroes like Russell Mark and Dan Repacholi got to the international stage from their start as juniors. Or why a WA Police and Community Youth Club had to end its air rifle program!  We know there are many shooters who are not interested in ISSF, however the advice put forward by Murray would work to benefit every shooter, club and discipline – not just those heading to the Olympics. This is an opportunity for the committee to steer the government towards correcting the situation and a more workable framework.  We can’t see them making wholesale changes to the framework – but a good step forward would be to mandate a better consultation framework that was led by ISSF interests, rather than local squeaky wheels such as SSAA.  Disallowing the regulations would at least partially hit that important “reset” button. -------------------------------------------------------------- GET EARLY RELEASES! Join our Patreon channel and you’ll get our episodes before they are released more widely!  You can join the channel at: JOIN our Patreon channel, simply go to patreon.com/PoliticsReloaded -------------------------------------------------------------- GUN NEWS AUSTRALIA is brought to you by Politics Reloaded and Gun Traders Australia  --------------------------------------------------------------- JOIN / DONATE NOW – strength in numbers You can back what we're doing by becoming a subscriber for just $30 a year at: https://politicsreloaded.com/join-us/; or donating at https://politicsreloaded.com/donate/  --------------------------------------------------------------- EMAIL LIST – don’t miss the news! Finally, for regular updates, hop onto our email list: https://politicsreloaded.com/email-list/ ---------------------------------------------------------------