MEDIA RELEASE
SHOOTERS SAY WA GUN BUYBACK PRICES AKIN TO ROBBERY
One of Australia’s largest shooting organisations has accused the Western Australian Government of effectively robbing shooters over its “insulting” firearm buyback prices.
The State Government announced earlier today it would be introducing sweeping changes to its firearms laws, imposing hard limits on the number of guns licensed shooters could own, and announcing a “buy-back” scheme for excess firearms currently held by licensees.
Shooters Union Australia president Graham Park said the sums on offer for most guns were insultingly low and amounted to robbery of licensed gun owners.
“In the majority of cases, the sums being offered are not even close to what these items cost to buy new or on the open market, and the West Australian Government is essentially robbing those licensed gun owners by refusing to pay what their legally-acquired and owned firearms are actually worth.
“A brand new Beretta Silver Pigeon double-barrelled clay target shotgun – which is a pretty standard clay target shotgun - costs about $3500 to buy, yet according to the Cook government, it’s worth $750.
“Shooters – who have committed no crime, who have done nothing wrong, and actually paid WAPOL fairly substantial sums of money to legally acquire these guns in the first place - are going to be significantly out of pocket, and the Western Australian Government essentially seems to be saying ‘sucks to be you’.
“There’s no other way to describe it – Western Australian gun owners are being robbed, and the fact the Government is being so open about it shows the true contempt with which the state government holds its citizens.
“If the Government wants to force people to give up their lawfully owned property – property the government itself issued that person with a permit to own – then they can pay a fair price – which we’d consider as starting above the market rate - as a consequence.”
Mr Park said the prices also failed to take into account the historic or collector status of firearms, many of which were worth significant amounts of money.
“The prices are simply divided into ‘up to six years old’ or ‘More than six years old’ and I can tell you that every historic firearm enthusiast in the country would be delighted if they could buy WWI .303 rifles for only $525 each as a matter of course. They cost at least double or even triple that, and often much more, especially for rarer examples,” he said.
“It is abundantly clear these ‘buyback’ prices were not arrived at via any genuine consultation with the shooting community, and WA residents need to be holding their government to account before it comes for their hobbies and interests next.”