Farmers air strong opinions on both sides of shotgun debate

By a narrow margin, most farmers oppose new tighter Category D rules for lever-action shotguns, but their reasons are varied.

Some fear “nanny state” controls on gun owners, while others oppose the Category D decision because they want multi-cartridge shotguns banned entirely.

Responses to the Fairfax Agricultural Research and Marketing survey included a notable number of respondents in each state who opposed the decision because they wanted the lever-action shotguns banned.

Comments such as “I don’t believe they should be allowed in at all”, or “we don’t need them” or they’re too dangerous and a waste of cartridges”, were not unusual.

However, most farmers who opposed the tighter rules emphasised their genuine need to shoot “vermin” within a limited time frame, especially if professional shooters were not available.

“If I was chasing a mob of 20 wild pigs, seven rounds would not be enough,” said a NSW farmer.

Typical Queensland sentiment was reflected in comments like “we’re not professional shooters – an extra shot makes a difference”.

So, too, were concerns about lawmakers potentially taking the next step to ban all lever-action shotguns, or the new rules  punishing law abiding gun owners when similar multi-round firearms were already on the market.

“This is a ridiculous classification based on public hype,” said one respondent, while another was sick of the nanny state not trusting genuine firearm users.

However, supporters of tighter controls had plenty to say, too, with many regarding five shots was “more than sufficient”.

“On my farm if you can’t kill vermin with a five-shot weapon then maybe you should find out how to shoot straight,” said a South Australian.

“There are enough guns of all sorts - we don’t want access to any more,” said a West Australian respondent.

“Who wants to be like America,” said another.