A message from SSAA NSW President

Impact on firearm dealers and importers

One of the unintended consequences that was not thought through is the impact that this legislation will have on firearms dealers. Dealers handle registrations, transfers and amnesty hand-ins, as well as being relied upon to verify models, serial numbers and safety of firearms when needed. These are services that we need as well as the Government needs.

Their business volume is likely to diminish after the early panic selling and they will need your business and loyalty to stay in business. Without them we are in a world of hurt, as are their families, as a consequence of this reactive lawmaking.

The power of a petition

So, what are the benefits of the petition that we raised? A petition that achieves over 20,000 signatures causes the topic to be debated in the lower house of parliament. Given the overwhelming dominance of the government in the lower house many of you may think that this is a waste of time.

Nothing can be further from the truth. The reality of the petition is that one day the government will be beholden to the people when we have an election. Currently they have power but in March 2027 the people have power when NSW has their next election.

Our petition is 3 times the size of our last petition and our petition achieved 20,000 signatures in only 7 hours and then achieved 60,000 signatures in only two days. This is unprecedented speed and volume in New South Wales and importantly it is a message to Government about how law abiding firearms owners value their sport and will rally to support their sport, especially when unfairly treated and to an extent vilified. The volume of our petition may lead to a volume of votes in many electorates in New South Wales in 2027.

Below I have reproduced the petition, and you’ll notice that all it asks for is law abiding people in New South Wales to not be vilified because of their sport and to be treated fairly and inclusively in legislation that affects their sport. We asked Government to respect, consult, and treat us with integrity any honesty which is a basic duty that a Government must show to all of its citizens.

The petition reads:

Licensed firearms owners in New South Wales are subject to rigorous background checks, ongoing compliance requirements, and strict regulatory oversight. 

Following acts of violence in Bondi which involved firearms, statements made in public discourse have, at times, created an implication that licensed firearms ownership or firearms legislation is connected to terrorism or extremist terrorist activity. Such implications risk misleading the public, undermining evidence-based policy debate, and unfairly associating law-abiding citizens with criminal, extremist or terrorist conduct they do not engage in and actively reject. 

Law abiding firearms owners support stronger oversight of terrorist and criminal activities and we support stronger penalties for terrorist and criminal acts. 

The petitioners therefore request that the Legislative Assembly: 

1. Refrain from classifying, describing, or regulating licensed, law-abiding firearms owners in a manner that associates them with terrorism or extremist activity; and 
2. Ensure that firearms policy and legislation is proportionate, evidence-based, and clearly distinguishes licensed firearms owners from criminal or terrorist actors.

Our membership is 65,000 members strong, and this petition will soon exceed 100,000 signatures. Clearly this reaches beyond our membership, and this was evidenced by social media that overwhelmingly pointed to terrorism as the problem, many also claiming that the firearms addition to the Act was a overreaction at best and possibly an attempt to draw attention away from the real issue – Terrorism in Australia.

Please ensure you and likeminded people have signed the petition. It is open until March 13^th for an important reason. If any of you have not signed the petition yet do so as a matter of urgency, and perhaps speak to family, friends, and neighbours about the differences between terrorism and law-abiding citizens going about their sport.

Potentially they will sign the petition also.

Talk of a National Royal Commission 

We need a national Royal Commission to investigate the truth about the Bondi Terrorist attack and the reactions of particularly the federal government before and after. The resistance of the federal government is arrogant, and this is creating so many rumours that only a Royal Commission can clear the air.

There are several petitions currently running seeking a national Royal Commission, but I think SSAA membership and all shooters should put their voices behind our own request for this Royal Commission, and seek fairness in legislation and an explanation of how this terrorism event actually occurred when so much information was already known about the terrorists.

Take the NSW Government to Court?

There is a lot of chatter about lawyers offering to mount a High Court challenge if we fund them in some way. Each of those lawyers have been asked how they would be briefed to take this matter forward. Any of you who have dealt with lawyers on a regular basis will know that the outcome of their investigation and subsequent court appearances are dependent upon the brief they were given.

If a lawyer or law firm comes up with the right approach, we will come to our membership to see what level of involvement you would like us to take. This will be members money, and as a President of a not-for-profit organisation that needs to provide services such as ranges as well as advocate for effective laws and regulations on behalf of their members, I want it to be your decision what direction we take. A simple questionnaire will resolve that.

Legal action is a formal path that we are not afraid of but as there are strict rules as to what can be given leave to be heard we must make sure that any potential action is based on law. In other words we cannot simply turn up to court and say we don’t the law without any compelling legal reason as to why it was unconstitutional in full or part. That is not to say we wont advocate and in our democratic system when there is an action of Government that the people do not like, not only can we seek justive in the courts, we also have the power at election time.

Rest assured, we are exploring every option available to SSAA NSW and its members and will be in touch shortly as to next steps.

Our Team

Our Executive is meeting daily except Christmas day, we are questioning lawyers and are speaking to politicians and industry groups.

We called together an industry group the day after the Prime Minister called the State Premiers into a meeting and attacked firearms as the cause of the attack. The press release of that Government meeting had a paragraph on sympathy for the victims, a paragraph on terrorism and a page on firearms reform. Surely a page on terrorism would have been more appropriate.

The second day after the government meeting we called together our Branch Executives for an update and feedback.

I would like to thank our SSAA NSW executive team consisting of our two vice presidents Rob Austin and Jai Rowell who have real day jobs apart from their volunteer work as well as the rest of SSAA NSW Board. A big thank you to our CEO Pete Szaak and the staff. Also thanks must go toour SSAA National team consisting of President Andrew Judd and CEO Tom Kenyon who were also the formal calls.

Pete and Tom attended NSW Parliament for the two days of the passage of the legislation. They worked closely with the politicians and I thank them for working with us in assisting in attempts to have sensible amendments put forward to the legislation.

I also want to thank the various Branches and Branch Presidents for your support and advice. Thank you to Joe Mete and the team of Sydney Branch who have worked closely.

Most importantly, thank you to all of our 65,000 members who supported our efforts at very short notice at Christmas time. This means the world and I why I am honoured to be your State President.

Lastly, I would like to thank the industry groups who came together at short notice when we asked. Thank you to SIFA for your ongoing support.

Now we need to begin working on the Regulations that will underpin the legislation that has just been passed.

We did have a five point plan and so far Plan A and Plan B are history. Attempts to get the proposed Act modified or put before a Upper House Committee for debate and input were rejected.

I look forward to updating you on additional advocacy efforts in the near future and how you can play a key role.

Now for the many positives from the 2025 year

• We employed a new CEO in Pete Szaak. Many will know Pete and his work in Training, Regulations and Range support and member support, and that was before he was promoted to CEO. Six months in as CEO and he has managed a huge baptism of fire that is the Terrorism and Firearms Act.
• Range development has continued to improve with better and consistent range reviews.
• We have a Finance committee Chair in Peter Thompson (Thommo because we already have a Pete). The importance of a SSAA NSW Director with a strong professional financial controller background has assisted us hugely in managing particularly our budget. I love our budget process and the clarity of the reports to the Board.
• Pete and I worked with the Firearms Registry Consultative Committee on the 2017 Regulations review. This was completed positively and was due to be released for community review in February. Some of that will still be relevant but changes will need to occur to manage the Terrorism and Firearms Act inclusion.
• We bid for and secured Hilltop Range as the managing licensee for up to 30 years. This is a huge asset to all shooters in NSW and SSAA NSW management will grow the facility capabilities from what is probably already the best rifle & pistol range in Australia. Shotgun is a part of the growth plan.
• Our membership continues to grow above the national average.
• Formal try shooting run by SSAA NSW Director Alison Worldon continued to promote our sport and gather new members while also assisting Branches to copy and run the model for themselves with head office support.

• While our relationship with the NSW Government is strained at this time, it was excellent until the Bondi Terrorist attack. We have also identified many friends in politics who stood up for consultative law making.
• Our relationship with Senior Police and the NSW Firearms Registry has been professional and positive.