2freeq wrote:Hi all,
Well after years of wanting my firearms license and not going through with it because of not knowing anyone to shoot with, My daughter has expressed an interest so we are starting off together. So far i have done the safety course, Completed my application and sent it off, 4 days later i sent off some PTAs and installed my safe. Now all i can do is wait. The online check license thing says license application date was 29/05 so apparently it will be 6 - 8 weeks after that. My PTAs i lodge say application date 04/06 but i doubt the cooling off period will run at same time as license application cooling off period so i'm expecting another 6 - 8 weeks wait after the license is valid. Fingers crossed for a miracle though. I am absolutely blown away by how unnecessarily slow the who paper trail process is (3 weeks to receive application i could have downloaded in 4.3 seconds) but you have all heard every second member whinge about that so i'll leave it alone.
We are buying a couple of .22s to start with, I'm looking at a second hand Marlin XT22 in a local gun store for myself and a brand new Mossberg 802 for my daughter. No doubt we will upgrade and/or go larger calibre once we learn trigger control etc etc
So far we are looking at target shooting at Silverdale range in NSW as it seems easiest to get to for us from where we live. We would like somewhere closer we could take a little air rifle to plink targets with but we don't have access to anywhere.
Cheers
Paul.
Good on you for getting involved and great to see you involving the young one's as well,
I am 62 this year and have been shooting since I was big enough to hold a rifle, around the age of 6 or 7, with supervision, by myself from the age of 10 on the farm, I was clay target shooting at 12, over the years I have seen many changes to the restrictions and laws, not many of them good ones, licensing and storage requirements are about the only ones that practically enhance public safety, the rest are next to useless.
The bureaucratic hurdles you have experienced are a form of deterrent, they seem to want to make it as hard as they can for licensed shooters, hoping many will not bother and or give up, it is really great to see new shooters like yourself getting involved, hang in there and enjoy the pastime,