Australia’s shooting community has been attacked, scapegoated and made to pay for the actions of terrorists. Law-abiding firearm owners have borne the brunt of a response to crimes they did not commit. Legitimate businesses have suffered devastating losses, and governments have imposed sweeping restrictions on people who have done absolutely nothing wrong.
As a community, we must ensure there is a significant political price for these decisions. The first opportunity for that accountability comes on 13 March 2027, when Chris Minns and his Labor Government face the people of New South Wales.
Minns chose to impose arbitrary firearm caps, reclassifications and a compulsory buyback targeting the legally acquired property, livelihoods and legitimate interests of responsible firearm owners and licensed firearms dealers. These misguided reforms, pursued despite widespread rejection of the Commonwealth’s national approach, have forced an entire industry to absorb the consequences of a political response to terrorism.
The Minns Government and any politician who supports these reforms must be held accountable for the damage done to our lawful industry and its participants. But political accountability cannot stop at the New South Wales border.
In Tasmania, Labor leader Josh Willie has demonstrated the same determination to target law-abiding firearm owners and businesses. Willie and Tasmania Labor attempted to introduce arbitrary firearm caps, only for their proposal to be defeated in Parliament. Rather than accept that result, Willie declared that Labor would continue pursuing the restrictions through the Legislative Council. His intentions could not be clearer. Tasmanian Labor has made its political choice, and its continued pursuit of these restrictions deserves the same electoral scrutiny as the Minns Government.
The decisions of Minns and Willie must be remembered but focusing only on them risks allowing the real architect of the national firearms campaign to escape responsibility.
The Albanese Government must also be held to account
Anthony Albanese and his Labor Government announced the National Gun Buyback Scheme on 19 December 2025, using the actions of terrorists to justify a national campaign targeting legally owned firearms. The Commonwealth promoted the scheme as the largest buyback since John Howard’s reforms, proposed a national funding arrangement and sought to bring every state and territory into its program.
Albanese’s ambition was clear, he wanted a nationally consistent approach with the Commonwealth leading the response and the states and territories implementing the restrictions.
Despite initial agreement, most jurisdictions subsequently rejected the policy leaving Albanese without the national approach he sought. The consequences, however, remain very real, particularly for firearm owners and businesses in New South Wales.
We must remember that this was not simply a decision made by Chris Minns, as some have tried to claim. The Commonwealth Government initiated and promoted the national buyback, and all government members voted to support the legislation. Every federal parliamentarian who supported it must also be held responsible for the consequences to our industry.
Minns faces the electorate first, followed by Albanese and the federal parliamentarians who supported the national legislation at the next Commonwealth election, and then Josh Willie and Tasmania Labor at their next state election, expected in 2029. There are also Tasmania’s divisional elections for upper house members, which fall outside the main election cycle; next year Derwent, Mersey and Windermere give shooters opportunities to make their point very clearly.
Those elections provide the opportunity for accountability, but making it count will require the shooting community to turn its considerable numbers into organised political influence.
We MUST use our numbers
There are almost one million firearms licences in Australia. If the people behind those licences each brought just one additional Australian into the public debate, our reach could approach two million people.
That represents an extraordinary level of political influence that the shooting community has yet to fully realise. A constituency of this scale has the capacity to make lawful firearms ownership a significant issue in public debate, ensure governments cannot dismiss our concerns, and wield significant political punishment against those who seek to use us as a political football. It is time we recognise that power, organise it and use it.
The differences between sporting shooters, hunters, farmers, collectors, dealers, clubs, associations and industry organisations are insignificant compared with the challenges confronting lawful firearms ownership in Australia. Whatever our disciplines or affiliations, we share a common interest in protecting its future, and it is time to put those differences aside and stand together.
Political involvement cannot remain the responsibility of a handful of industry representatives, shooting organisations and advocates. Every lawful firearm owner has a role in protecting the future of our sport, our industry and our way of life. That means moving beyond expressing frustration whenever another government announces restrictions. It means becoming informed, lobbying elected representatives, challenging misleading claims, participating in public debate and ensuring the wider community understands the consequences of these decisions.
Political influence cannot simply be switched on a few weeks before an election and forgotten afterwards. It must be built and maintained through sustained engagement with governments, political parties, parliamentarians and the wider community. We need to act as a united national political movement, organised across every state and territory, capable of holding governments accountable long after the immediate issues have passed.
Political decisions must carry political consequences. Minns, Willie and Albanese must be remembered for the restrictions they imposed or pursued and the consequences for lawful firearm owners and our industry. The same applies to every politician who supported them, regardless of political party. Their decisions must remain part of their political records and follow them to the ballot box.
A line has been drawn in the sand. Governments of every political persuasion must be shown that our community will no longer simply absorb another round of restrictions and retreat from the political process. We have the numbers and the collective influence to ensure that those who target our community face political consequences, now we must stand together and make that influence count.
The time for standing on the sidelines is over.