After a battle, which started 12 years ago, The Shooters Party has now managed to have reasonable and sensible amendments made to the Firearms Act and Regulations.

Our bill, the first of what we hope will be a series to remove more red tape from the NSW firearms laws, has passed through the Legislative Assembly without amendments. The Independent Member for Tamworth, Mr Peter Draper, sponsored it in the Lower House and we thank him for his support.

Since 1996 The Shooters Party has stood alone in the push for sensible changes to the gun laws. It has been a long battle, but has been made easier by having two members in the Upper House. Your support in March 2007 is now bearing fruit, and we would like to thank all the clubs and individuals who helped with suggestions on what amendments we should include in our first real tilt at changing the laws.

Be assured, this is only the start, and we will be looking for further constructive suggestions for our next round of amendments.

We welcome the bi-partisan support from the Government, the Opposition, Rev Fred Nile of the Christian Democrats and those independents in the Lower House who supported what they all saw as sensible changes to the law.

With the change of Government in Canberra and the removal of the threats of reprisal against Governments who might amend the gun laws, The Shooters Party hopes this Bill spurs other States to take similar steps and conduct objective reviews of their legislation.

What we need are the most EFFECTIVE laws, rather than the so-called TOUGH laws. Having now passed both Houses, the new laws will be implemented over the next three months.

The Amendments remove a number of restrictions that unreasonably impact on legitimate firearm owners and unlicensed people wishing to try sport shooting, and while disappointed that not all of our proposed amendments were accepted, we believe that on the whole the passage of this bill is a significant win for shooters.

We suffered because of some uninformed comments about our proposal that junior shooters, who have held a target pistol permit for at least 12 months, could apply for permits enabling them to use larger calibres in Single Action and Handgun Metallic Silhouette matches. This amendment failed, mainly due to the misinformation pedalled by the Greens, who not surprisingly opposed every change we put forward.