SSAA NSW is aware of today’s announcement by the NSW Government of a compulsory firearms buyback scheme. It was made on a Sunday, when advisers and legal teams are off. That has not stopped us; SSAA NSW is on the job.
The SSAA NSW Executive and CEO met urgently early this morning. We are working through next steps with the full SSAA NSW Board.
Well before today, we have raised our concerns and continually do so, directly with politicians on all sides, including the Premier and the Police Minister. From the moment the bill was introduced into parliament last year, we briefed legal counsel and worked in partnership with other organisations such as the NSW Dealers Association and SIFA.
We have instructed our legal team and our Barrister (KC) to review today’s announcement and advise.
Our position is unchanged: we want the Terrorism and Other Legislation Act (TOLA) laws repealed where they unfairly impact law-abiding firearms owners. We oppose the buyback; if one is to be introduced, it must be at fair value, including ammunition and accessories. Of course we are concerned for the livelihoods of licensed firearms dealers also.
Today’s announcement raises more questions than answers and appears to leave significant gaps for firearms in certain value ranges. Much of the detail will sit in regulations that have not yet been made; until those regulations are known, no one can say with certainty how these laws will operate in practice or what they will mean for individual licence holders and dealers.
We are also acutely aware of the existing backlogs in the processing of permits to acquire, genuine reason applications and licence applications; those delays will directly affect whether members are forced into a position of having to sell firearms, and they must be resolved before any scheme proceeds.
Bills to repeal this legislation are about to be debated in both the State and Federal Parliaments. Nothing should proceed until those bills are debated.
There is a great deal at stake, and SSAA NSW continues to advocate strongly for you. We will keep working with other associations, industry and key stakeholder groups as a united voice.
Your SSAA NSW Board and staff are working day and night on this, just as we have been well before today, and we will have more to say in the coming hours and days. Stay tuned and be ready to support the advocacy effort.
We will communicate with you in a number of ways, but if you haven’t already followed our Facebook page, please do so today here: https://bit.ly/4bQUv1x
SSAA NSW
