Australian Gun Money For Politicians:

The Guardian on-line reports some A$353,000 has been accepted by Aussie political parties from pro-gun lobbyists .. I find this ominous-but-interesting - bearing in mind their law amendments that now treat plastic toys the same as real guns and bans 3D Printers!!

The largest donations – totalling just over $108,000 – went to Bob Katter’s Australian party, which received $75,000 from the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (Queensland) Inc and $33,332 from NIOA Nominees. Robert Nioa is the son-in-law of Katter and NIOA touts itself as Australia’s largest privately owned supplier of small arms.

The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party, which also received just over $104,000, disclosed donations of $17,000 from the Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia, $5,000 from the New South Wales firearms dealer Magnum Sports Pty Ltd and $30,000 from its own association entity the Federation of Hunting Clubs.

The Liberal party received $46,000, which included $23,000 from Thales Australia Limited and $22,500 from the Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia.

The Labor party also received $33,032 from Thales Australia.

The Liberal Democratic party also fielded $35,000, with $20,000 from NIOA and $15,856 from the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (Victoria). Senator David Leyonhjelm has been an outspoken advocate for gun owners.

- What hope can we Kiwis have that our gun regulations will remain sensible when the Parliamentary Committee reports on "Illegal Guns" this coming month?

- Bear in mind that only x 90 of us bothered to make a submission to that inquiry - & only around ONE PERCENT of Licenced NZ Shooters has bothered to sign a Petition to the Prime Minister reminding him that gun use in NZ by lawful 'Fit & Proper' persons is not a problem.

- What percentage of us has paid to support SSANZ ?

- Well ... Expect to pay thousands of dollars shortly to buy and install new approved security.

Marty K.