What was it like before 1996?

[Dunxy]

I grew up in the 80's and while not old enough(just) to own a firearm at the time of "the great banning" I still remember what it was like!
Shooting air rifles in the street was a common thing that nobody batted an eye lid at, older kid in thew street had a .177 that he used to let me shoot.
Often shot pigeons (with an air rifle that lived in the shed for this job) in a work shop my father worked at.
Used to play cow boys and indians with old (unloaded off-course) cap and ball revolvers,get arrested or shot doing that these days!
Plenty of great cap guns available, used to love my cap guns!
I remember going to my mates house whose father was a hunter,guns just kept in cupboard.Mags and ammo separate but still not a good idea! We knew never to touch them unsupervised but to everyone's kids as well disciplined as us.
Never got to shoot a semi auto or went to a range in this time.

The only improvement IMHO that has come out of the whole sh!tfight is the storage of firearms, i am a firm believer that nobody needs to have unsecured firearms in the home, it is just inviting the wrong people to play with them.Not saying its a problem for everyone,as i said we had responsible parents who disciplined us properly so would never dream of touching a firearm.But what about other children or if somebody broke into house?

[bladeracer]

The only improvement IMHO that has come out of the whole sh!tfight is the storage of firearms, i am a firm believer that nobody needs to have unsecured firearms in the home, it is just inviting the wrong people to play with them.Not saying its a problem for everyone,as i said we had responsible parents who disciplined us properly so would never dream of touching a firearm.But what about other children or if somebody broke into house?

I agree that owners need to be responsible for securing their firearms, but what we have currently goes way over the top in my opinion. With $20K or $30K worth of firearms then a safe is a really sensible idea. But the farmer that has a $100 single-shot .22 is forced to comply with the same law as an enthusiast. As for other people breaking into your property and stealing your property, you're saying they're the victims instead of you that have been violated illegally? Once somebody takes illegal possession of your firearm I reckon they also take the responsibility that goes with it.

[Dunxy]

I agree that owners need to be responsible for securing their firearms, but what we have currently goes way over the top in my opinion. With $20K or $30K worth of firearms then a safe is a really sensible idea. But the farmer that has a $100 single-shot .22 is forced to comply with the same law as an enthusiast. As for other people breaking into your property and stealing your property, you're saying they're the victims instead of you that have been violated illegally? Once somebody takes illegal possession of your firearm I reckon they also take the responsibility that goes with it.

I know its a bit overboard in regards to storage of a single cheap .22 and or shotgun, but it doesn't have to be a full on safe, just decent storage.Safes arent as big a deal as they once were, ive seen really good safes for a couple of hundred bucks used.Sure its more than a cheap firearm is worth, but i see it as a small price to pay.The small safe i got for my ammo storage for instance cost me $10.No its not chinese junk, its a proper fireproof safe.

No im not saying they are victims at all! Just we as responsible firearm owners should not be making it easy for them to get a firearm,like it was in the past when people kept them under the bed in cupboard etc. Junky breaks into house looking for easy cash isn't going to go moving/breaking into safes or decent storage but a firearm just sitting there is going to get taken.

When I was younger i thought the storage laws were silly, now i think they actually make sense.

[Oldbloke]

If I recall correctly the original ( J Howard) reason for firearm security was to stop kids from accessing them. That's why a locked wooden cubard or work locker was acceptable.

Now it's safes and alarms to stop theft. (just saying)

[Member-Deleted]

From the age of 14 until I could drive in 1962, I would make the weekly journey by train to the local rifle range carrying my uncovered .303. No-one took a second look at me walking through the shopping centre or passing the police station. I kept the bolt in the rifle as I was not breaking any law.

I don't think the average person took any particular view of firearms in those days, not until politicians told them to be fearful.

There was one range in Sydney's Baulkham Hills that was open each day. Range fee was paid to a nearby neighbour who also provided targets. I sometimes shot there with no-one else on the range.
Ten.

I am originally from Dubbo and in the late 70s when I was 14 my parents bought me a BSA mercury .22 air rifle with a nikko sterling scope for xmas.That xmas was spent in town shooting cicardas in the tree in the backyard.Had a competition with my father on who got the most.Must have shot 2000 slugs that xmas.Neighbours didn't care.
My Grandfather used to tell me that him and the local police Sargent years earlier after a few drinks at the Castlereagh hotel would go out the back of the pub and shoot starlings with his revolver.
How times have changed.

[lee_enfield223]

I still live in Sydney and shoot with the military rifle club at malabar and we used to get about 150 shooters each and every sunday, and semi auto military rifles outnumbered bolt actions by 4 to1 and I used to borrow AR15's and owned quite a few including an M14 winchester,a leader in 223, and a mini 14., but mainly I was and still am a bolt action man

[thebear]

I remember being in the cadets in the 60's and if you were going on a camp you would walk home with a 303 and no one would turn a hair. You could buy 22 ammunition at the local milk bar. In the 70's I had all my firearms on a rack on the wall and it was quite legal. I bought three firearms from Mick Simmons in the city, no permits and no licenses then.
Shooting was a recognised as a good pastime and a way to add to the table. Marksmanship was something to be proud of then. Now with our urbanised population and the insipid paranoia that has developed in part of the population we have to put up with so many rules and regulations.

[happyhunter]

Pre 1985 was Golden. Department and hardware stores sold guns and ammo, Toyworld stocked BB guns and you could buy pellets for your air rifle from the local news agent. Gun paranoia was at a low. SLRs were cheap!

[Gaznazdiak]

Were things a little more relaxed before '96?
In 1981 I bought a Sportco Model 80 12g shotgun from K-Mart.
Decided when I saw it the day before that I had to have it, but didn't have the $40.
I walked in with $65, and 10 minutes later, walked out with the shotgun, a pile of ammo and a big grin. And change.
It's still the best shotty I've used and the chrome lining in the bore is still bright as new.

[bigfellascott]

Yep I used to buy 22 ammo and pellets from the local Newsagent in the day and my Sako 222 was purchased from a Chemist Shop! How things have changed!!

[BRNO_Bigot]

Pre 1996:



Post 1996:

Lies! We all know that the second photo is of post 2077 - at least all of us who have played Fallout 3.

[doc]

I don't think that the majority of people these days hate guns or are terrified by them.

Actually - I think there's a growing trend. I've sat down with more than one reasonable logical person who's gone on about firearm concerns. However, when they've heard me out and I've put it into perspective most to their credit often reconsider their view point and realise that they've had a number of misconceptions about them.

I think we can thank the media for the current 'default reaction' regarding firearms. Thankfully there's still many logical people around willing to listen / have a debate over an issue / respect someone elses opinion for us to be able to set the record straight, but the media, and left wing are bent on getting their message across and stopping this.

Indeed - probably more concerning is the reaction now of the left when it comes to silencing anyone who dare opposes their ideologies. Debates are out of the question and they can't stomach the thought of someone else actually getting a message across that disagrees with them (or more correctly exposes their false claims).

[on_one_wheel]

According to GCA everyone had a gun safe that looked like this.

images (30).jpg (43.12 KiB) Viewed 3786 times

This was how people sorted out arguments.

images (31).jpg (17.42 KiB) Viewed 3785 times

And this is what our children did when we weren't home.

images (32).jpg (8.71 KiB) Viewed 3785 times

Thank god for 1996

[duncan61]

Right now is the best time to be alive,

[Gwion]

I still think it's funny that so many of you blokes still go on about 'the left' when it was Auatralia's most right wing govt that enacted these laws.

[bladeracer]

I still think it's funny that so many of you blokes still go on about 'the left' when it was Auatralia's most right wing govt that enacted these laws.

I don't consider Lib or Lab to be left or right, they're the same, both have the same agenda about taking our firearms.

[Gwion]

Exactly. The whole left/right thing is BS (IMO). But if you buy into it then the reality is that both 'sides' of politics are equally motivated to reduce firearms in the community as any faction bent on political dominance views civilian firearms as an obstacle to ultimate control.

[Archie]

My defining memory of how the restrictive Australian laws really affected my way of life around 1996 was that prior to then, I couldn't - despite being a law abiding citizen with no criminal history - purchase beer. But after 1996 I was 18.

I do reckon there must have been a big change in culture re firearms way before then though, like in the 80s... I don't think I ever saw a firearm other than my uncle's old 22 at his farm. Definitely never saw a gun in Kmart, although I lived in the burbs so maybe that's why.

[Gwion]

Yep.
Things started to change mid-late 80s or even earlier. 84/85 we could still get slugs (pellets) for my mate's air rifles (slug guns) at the local Kmart in rural Vic. We were allowed to get about with the sluggies but not powder burners (parant's rules). My folks didn't allow us guns but didn't object to us shooting with mates. My brother even had a regular clay shoot with the shotgun team at his school. Still, people didn't just wander around willy nilly with guns, although I don't recall anyone really being anti-gun. A lot if my mates had their own guns under a bed or in a draw when we were young teenagers and most kids parant's had firearms.

My sister was going out with a cop in 96 and I recall have a heated debate about the laws coming in with me pointing out that I could randomly do quite a bit of damage with things other than a gun.

All in all I think the storage imposed and the restricting of gun sales to vetted individuals is probably for the best but much of the rest of the laws are pretty ill thought out and pointless.

[Daddybang]

I still think it's funny that so many of you blokes still go on about 'the left' when it was Auatralia's most right wing govt that enacted these laws.

I don't consider Lib or Lab to be left or right, they're the same, both have the same agenda about taking our firearms.

Yep hawke started it johnny "finished" it off.
The only difference between the two sides of politics these days are the party logos