Australian Prime Minster Anthony Albanese was one of the first voices demanding new restrictions on gun owners after a father and son opened fire on a crowd of Jews who had gathered to celebrate the first night of Hanukah last month, but now Albanese is laughably claiming that those new laws won’t punish gun owners… even though they’ll soon be subjected to a brand new compensated confiscation effort and limits on the number of firearms that can be legally possessed.
The Albanese government announced a suite of tweaks tightening gun laws in response, including a national buyback scheme, countrywide standards for ownership and tougher import restrictions to stop owners buying modifications making their firearms more lethal.
But some, including bodies representing farmers and recreational shooters, and the Nationals, have pushed back, warning the government risks penalising law-abiding gun owners.
It was put to the Prime Minister during a Tuesday press conference that those who possess firearms “feel they’re being punished for the actions of two terrorists”.
But Mr Albanese said that would not happen and that proposed federal changes were “common sense”.
Common sense is in the eye of the beholder, and for many Australian gun owners the new restrictions make no sense whatsoever.
Among the changes that were announced within days of the terror attack at either the federal or state level are new prohibitions on non-citizens being able to lawfully possess a firearm, limits to how many guns can be lawfully owned, a national gun registry, and new restrictions on pump action and lever action firearms.
He also defended the buyback scheme, which he announced as the largest since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.
“I think Australians would also be surprised to hear the fact that there are more guns in Australia today than there were at the time of the Port Arthur massacre,” Mr Albanese said.
… “What we are dealing with is Commonwealth responsibility, and I am surprised that anyone in this parliament could walk in and vote against those issues, against a gun buyback, against the provision that says you’ve got to be a citizen, and against the strengthening of our customs to stop the importing of dangerous materials.
The prime minister’s compensated confiscation scheme is drawing some pushback; not only from gun owners, but from some state officials as well. Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has said the state will not contribute any money to the confiscation effort, while Albanese is proposing that the federal government and state governments split the cost 50-50.
Tasmanian Police Minister Felix Ellis has also criticized the move to limit the number of firearms that can be owned, pointing out that ” ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether someone has two guns or 10 – if they are a terrorist, that’s really the problem, and that sort of radical terrorism is clearly the problem in this case.”
Still, both Finocchiaro and Ellis are backing the federal government’s push for a national gun registry, even though it could easily be used in future confiscation efforts.
Gun ownership isn’t a right in Australia. It’s a privilege doled out by the state. Still, telling gun owners that they’re no longer allowed to keep firearms that they lawfully purchased and have possessed for years is absolutely punishing them for the actions of criminal terrorists.
Albanese is full of Vegemite if he honestly believes otherwise, and U.S. gun owner are deluding themselves if they think our own anti-gun politicians wouldn’t repeat these same nonsensical claims if they had the chance to impose a confiscated confiscation scheme here at home. Gun control isn’t about reducing crime or improving public safety. It’s about getting rid of guns, and punishing anyone who dares to exercise their Second Amendment rights after they’ve been commanded to disarm.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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