Posted on 12/30/2006 9:46:28 PM PST by Neil E. Wright
(My notes: this article does not appear on the ASRPA website. I typed this from the hardcopy newsletter I got in the mail today. Any and all typos in the text of the following article are my responsibility. I added the highlights and bolding as well -- NEW)
by David Winters
Shooting in Australia is varied and vast. There is certainly no shortage of shooting sports in Australia, only constraints with the size of this country, and the equipment we are allowed to use (but that is another story for later).
Australia has a very long and rich history of shooting. Only since 1996, when our governments saw fit to do something, anything, to be seen as acting in the best interests of its public, and bow to pressure from the anti-gun lobby, did the sport plummet. Again, another story for another time, but may we take this opportunity to note 2 things - 1) crime DOES rise when the public are unarmed, and 2) once you lose your guns, you will never get them back, so don't be complacent and let them be taken away from you in the first place.
Because Australia is a commonwealth country, shooting under the name of the King back in the late 1800's was what the sport was based on. A "Kings Prize" shoot was held annually at a National level, and in each state, on the basis that the King, if he ever visited us, would have accomplished marksman across Australia.
Like most countries, the sport of shooting really kicked off after WWI. "Service Rifle" shooting became the most common, and remained very popular for many years to come.
The NRAA (National Rifle Association of Australia) was started. Its purpose was to govern shooting sports and act as a militia type marksmanship school for time of war.
When WWII broke out, there were many good shooters in Australia, and many of these shooters served as marksman to great success.
At the end of WWII, for some reason we are still unable to comprehend, our government decided that Australia will never be in another war, and would never need to defend its shores again. The Australian government decided to disarm our citizens of their service rifles, both those left over from WWI and WWII plus those acquired in peace times. The SSAA (Sporting Shooters Association of Australia) began with the purpose of fighting the government on this issue, and for promoting shooting sports, and hunting, for recreational purposes without the idea of training marksman for service. Furthermore, the SSAA represented those who realised that hunters were actually true conservationists, and needed to be protected, as the uncontrollable outbreak of feral animals in Australia was killing our native wildlife (animal and plant).
From the 50's on, like many shooting countries, shooting disciplines grew or evolved and were created or adopted by our associations and shooters. By the 90's shooting was an extremely popular sporting activity and had fantastic recreational benefits for all who participated. Shooters had fought many hard battles with politicians to keep their guns and preserve their rights, to participate in their chosen sport without harassment.
The biggest rifle disciplines shot by the mid 90's were Fullbore (Big Bore or Palma, depending where you are from), Service Rifle and various colonial black powder. Although almost every form of shooting was popular, these mentioned disciplines were the most popular.
Tragedy struck the community in 1996, when a criminal decided to go on a killing spree in a very popular historical site known as "Port Arthur" in the state of Tasmania (far south, and the coldest state of Australia). This criminal was determined to kill people, and, for no simple reason, chose to use a firearm. The choice of the criminal, and nothing more, was the catalyst to again attack legal law abiding citizens over their rights to own firearms and participate in shooting sports. Semi-Automatic firearms were immediately banned, and the Service Rifle discipline, the 2nd most popular discipline in the country at the time, was almost banished overnight with the signature of one anti-gun political leader - John Howard. The SSAA fought extremely hard but lost the fight, while the NRAA buried their head in the sand, as their main bread winner for the NRAA was Fullbore (uses single shot bolt action rifles).
Since 1996, the face of shooting has dramatically changed. No more auto or semi-auto rifles, restrictions on magazine capacity, limitations on calibre and limitations to the type of firearm you can own. Even more absurd is a rule that denies shooters from owning a rifle that even looks like (the legal term is "substantially duplicates") a semi-auto or assault type firearm. After many challenges by AIHPA, to this day there is still no clear definition of what that means.
Divisions between civilians and the services began. Servicemen, as servicemen, were no longer permitted to participate in shooting sports with civilians - they must also shoot as civilians out of uniform. And, civilians were no longer allowed to shoot on, hence host events, on ranges owned or operated by any service. This resulted in a major reduction in numbers, deflation in event prestige, less attraction to participate in the sport and reduced social interaction. All civilian shooting from this point is done on privately owned or operated ranges - many of these being found on farm land which are impossible to maintain to the standards Australian shooters became accustom to.
Rifle target shooting disciplines in Australia now are typically managed by the 2 main players, with many satellite groups administering and managing disciplines.
The NRAA, with a membership of about 8,000, administers Fullbore, ISSF, Palma, F-Class, Field Rifle and Service Rifle. There is a current proposal to have XC adopted by the NRAA and is being debated as this is being written.
The SSAA continues to be predominately support sporting shooting (Hunting), however being the largest association in Australia with around 100,000 members, and the ability to bargain on insurance and sports administration costs and be a power house in the political game to best fight for shooter freedom and rights. It size defaults much of its time and staff members to also administer many shooting disciplines - those that may be seen as "untraditional" by the NRAA, such as Field Rifle (more hunting based than the NRAA target based course of fire), Metallic Silhouette, Western Action, Lever Action, Service Rifle and many more. This said, the SSAA also administers very target orientate shooting disciplines such as International 4P, 3P, running target, Smallbore, etc.
ALHPA is all about High power per the rules put out by NRA (of USA). XC is the most popular of the HP courses, as long range and silhouette is well covered with the NRAA and SSAA, although with subtle differences. AIHPA is well established with XC, and will hopefully remain the administrative body for the discipline if the NRAA adopts it.
Australian citizens are not allowed to handle firearms without a permit. As ridiculous as it sounds the shooting community sees it as a policy and law to prevent new people wanting to try the sport to potentially take it up. An increase in shooter numbers is the last thing our governments want. However, shooters from another country are welcome to come and shoot, and this is very popular for our large and most prestigious "Queens Shoot" events (Queens, as opposed to Kings, because the Commonwealth is currently without a King).
Target shooting in Australia is still a very popular activity, but is only a shadow of its former self - prior to the mid 90's. Unfortunate, but true - and very sad it is.
Shooting events, now, are as much about shooting as they are about socialising. With a climate that is very attractive to shooting sports all year round, Australia can become unbearingly hot in summer that often results in more emphasis on the social side of the meet than the competitive shooting side.
A country this large is its own constraint. 90% of shooting happens around the coast line of Australia, and often shooters are faced with long travel times to compete in lesser regional or club meets as opposed to the big National and State title annual events. But with countryside like we have, many consider the travel as enjoyable as the shooting activities themselves.
It's a big country, with plenty to offer. Seeyadownunda, mate!
David Waters
BTTT!
ping
ping for crazy parallels
When I was working in Australia I called a local range to inquire about renting a 1911 and running a few hundred rounds of 230 grain hardball down range.
The guy at the range told me to not even bother coming down. He said all he could let me shoot was a 22 revolver and that I would have to take a class first and could only then shoot while an instructor stood behind me.
As much as I like the Australians I wish they would lighten up a bit on gun control. Just ridiculous.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.