The Thing we are Genuinely Good At
Every so often it is worth stopping and giving ourselves credit for something.
Safety is the part of our sport we tend to treat as unremarkable; the background hum of every range day, so ordinary that nobody thinks to mention it. But look at what actually sits behind that hum in New South Wales, and it is one of the more impressive volunteer-built systems in Australian sport. We ought to be prouder of it than we are.
WE TRAIN OUR OWN
Before anyone in this state holds a firearms licence, they have to be trained. What is less widely appreciated is who does the training.
Our Safe Shooting Course is approved by the NSW Commissioner of Police, and it is delivered across the state overwhelmingly by NSW SSAA members giving up their time. For a first-timer it runs a number of hours, covering how firearms work, safe handling, ammunition, cleaning and maintenance, storage and transport, the licensing framework, protective equipment, and range and field procedure. There is a written assessment, and then a practical test in which the candidate has to demonstrate safe handling to an instructor’s satisfaction.
The people delivering it are not casually appointed. An instructor holds a current licence, has at least three years of experience in the safe use of longarms, carries formal instructor approval, is endorsed by their own branch and is recognised by the Firearms Registry.
Think about what that means. The safety standard of every new shooter in New South Wales rests substantially on volunteers from our branches, teaching to a consistent syllabus. That is not a small contribution to public safety in this state. It is a very large one, and it is made almost entirely by people who will never be thanked for it publicly.
Consider this my attempt to fix that.
OUR RANGE OFFICERS
The same is true of the people running the line.
A range officer in our organisation is nominated and authorised by their own branch, trained to a state-approved standard, and required to reaccredit periodically rather than being credentialled once and forgotten. Where a branch needs trainers, SSAA NSW delivers the workshops at no cost to the branch and provides the materials, so that a member doing an RO course at one end of the state learns the same thing as a member at the other.
That consistency is deliberate and it is worth defending. It means a member can rock up to a branch they have never visited before, on the other side of New South Wales, and know precisely how the day will run and what will be expected of them. Very few sports can say that.
If you have ever thought about becoming a range officer, take this as an invitation. It is one of the most useful things you can do for your branch, and the people who do it well tend to be the ones other members quietly model themselves on.
STORAGE, DONE WELL
Safe storage in this state is a legal obligation under the Firearms Act, not a suggestion; firearms kept secure, not able to be lost or stolen, and out of the hands of anyone not authorised to have them, with the standard scaling by category and ammunition kept separately.
Here is the encouraging part. The overwhelming majority of our members meet that standard comfortably, and have done for decades, not because they are being watched, but because it is simply how they were taught to do things. The habit is so ingrained that most members would find it strange to be praised for it.
Storage arrangements are now also verified as part of the Permit to Acquire process. My practical advice is straightforward; if your setup is properly matched to your categories, this is a non-event. If you have added categories over the years and never revisited your arrangements, now is a sensible moment to check. SSAA NSW has a guide to safe storage on our website, and your branch will happily talk you through it. There is no shame whatsoever in asking, and considerably more in guessing.
CULTURE IS CONTAGIOUS
The most valuable safety asset any branch has is not a policy document. It is the experienced members whose habits everyone else copies without realising it.
New shooters arrive watching closely. They pick up how you handle a firearm at the bench, how you respond when someone points something out, how seriously you take the parts of the day that are not the shooting. Whatever they see, they will replicate for the next forty years.
That is a quiet privilege. Most of us will never coach formally or instruct, but every one of us is teaching somebody, every time we turn up.
FINALLY
The safety culture in New South Wales shooting was not handed down by regulation. It was built by generations of members who decided that this is how we do things, and then taught it to the next lot, one Saturday at a time.
To our instructors, our range officers, our trainers and everyone who has ever taken ten patient minutes with a nervous newcomer; thank you. You are the reason this sport has the record it has.
If your branch needs support with training or accreditation, the state office is there to help. That is what it is for. And as always, my door is open at jai.rowell@nsw.ssaa.org.au.
Until next week: keep ’em on target, in the field and on the range!
Jai Rowell
President — SSAA NSW
ABOUT THIS COLUMN
Each week I pull up a seat at the bench to talk about what’s happening across SSAA NSW, the wins, the setbacks, what’s on the political radar, and my thoughts on whatever is front of mind, from the matters members are raising with me to whatever is shaping the sport that week. I’ll put our volunteers where they belong, at the front, because they’re the backbone of everything we do, and I’ll back the industry that keeps our sport strong. The promise is in the name: plain talk, no spin, and I’ll always tell it to you straight.
