Freedom equals self defence

There are few things more fundamental to freedom than the right of self defence. If freedom means anything it is the right to defend ourselves against those who would hurt us or our families, or take our property.

The problem is, the nanny state is increasingly ambivalent about whether we can be trusted with that amount of freedom. Authoritarians would prefer the police provided protection so that we don’t need to do it ourselves. Indeed, the minute anyone acts to catch a criminal or prevent a crime they are at risk of accusations of “taking the law into their own hands”. If two or more people act jointly, they are just as likely to be called “vigilantes”.

Nonetheless, the law recognises a right of self defence. If we or our families are attacked or our property threatened, we are entitled to defend it without committing a crime.

NSW Election Analysis

The election outcome in the NSW Legislative Council looks to be as follows:

Labour: 10 continuing plus 9 new = 19 total

Coalition: 7 continuing plus 8 new = 15 total

Greens: 2 continuing plus 2 new = 4 total

Christian Democrats: 1 continuing plus 1 new = 2 total

Shooters: 1 continuing plus 1 new = 2 total

The number of shooter advocates in parliament has not increased as David Oldfield (One Nation NSW) was in the previous parliament along with John Tingle/Robert Brown.

The new Shooters Party seat has been won by Roy Smith, SSAA NSW Executive Officer.

The seat was won at the expense of the Democrats, which are no longer represented in the NSW parliament. That is beneficial to shooters as the Democrats are generally opposed to firearm ownership and hunting.

The Labor government will have a choice between relying on the Greens for a majority, or the Christian Democrats plus Shooters. The Christian Democrats are somewhat sympathetic to shooters although their voting history is mixed and they strongly support the Liberals including John Howard’s gun control initiatives. Nonetheless, they strongly dislike the Greens too so they will side with the Shooters more often than not.

Votes in the Legislative Council will only occasionally be determined by Shooters. The Opposition votes with the government quite regularly, especially on issues that are opposed by the Greens.

Having the ability to overcome Greens opposition is nothing like having the balance of power. Nonetheless, the government will maintain pragmatic working relations with all three of the minor parties. That will mean a few crumbs come their way from time to time, such as funding for pet projects.

All post contibutors to this site welcome the replacement of a Democrat with a Shooter and look forward to reporting on the contribution of Roy Smith and Robert Brown to the restoration of shooters rights over the next four years.

Unconstitutional Funding Revisited

SSAA Newcastle Branch has obtained the opinion of Senior Counsel on the constitutionality of SSAA (NSW) donating $250,000 to the Shooters Party election fund without the approval of the members in a special resolution.

The opinion finds that the donation was unconstitutional as previously stated here, contrary to the opinion of a solicitor engaged by SSAA(NSW) who was subsequently nominated as a candidate for the Shooters Party in the State election.

Senior Counsel opinion carries considerable weight and is regarded as more likely to reflect the views of a court than a solicitor.

The opinion obtained by Newcastle Branch reads as follows:

Motley Plus

The list of Shooters Party candidates for the NSW Legislative Council is available here. It makes interesting reading both for who is there and who isn’t.

A single shot match

Nominations for the NSW State election have closed and are posted on the NSW Electoral Commission website. Once again, the Shooters Party is only standing for the upper house and has not nominated for any lower house seats.

The party that gains the most seats in the lower house forms government. If Labor wins more seats, it will continue to govern. If the Coalition does, there will be a change of government. The upper house is far less important to either of them than winning a majority of seats in the lower house.

NSW Coalition Firearms Policy

The Liberal/National Firearms Policy for the 2007 NSW election is now available: 2007 NSW Liberal-National Firearms Policy. Key points are in italics as follows:

Money well spent?

The Ministerial Advisory Council on Shooting Clubs (MACOSC) was set up by the Carr government in NSW in 1997 to distribute Sport and Recreation funds to shooting clubs. MACOSC was dominated by John Tingle, whose vote the government sometimes needed to ensure passage of its legislation. There was always a suspicion the money was little more than what would have been provided anyway, but at least the clubs had some guidance as to how to get it. Applicants that Tingle disapproved of (mostly SSAA branches) got nothing, but that still left several hundred clubs that received some financial assistance. Tens of thousands of shooters benefited from the improved facilities.