List your firearm for $19

Shooters Union calls for Victorian Police Minister Lisa Neville to resign over “disgusting” domestic violence comments

a901e79ab6ab79006f99f9ff9f14781b
Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on email

MEDIA RELEASE – ONE of Australia’s most prominent pro-firearms organisations has called for Victorian Police Minister Lisa Neville to resign in the wake of disgusting, offensive and baseless comments implying licensed firearms owners were domestic violence offenders.

Speaking at a televised press conference yesterday morning, Ms Neville openly declared the Victorian Government’s decision to halt the sale of ammunition and firearms parts to recreational hunters and target shooters was due to concerns over the potential for domestic violence incidents as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown.

Shooters Union Australia president Graham Park slammed the comments, calling them “quite possibly the most offensive, disgusting, ignorant and dangerous thing I have ever heard from a Government Minister”.

“I am simply flabbergasted by the Minister’s delusional and appalling comments, and I cannot believe she was allowed to air them unchecked.”

“Many law-abiding firearms owners are themselves victims of domestic violence, so Ms Neville has succeeded only in re-victimising and traumatising a vulnerable group for her own political ends,” he said.

“It is clear that someone with such clear disgust and disdain for the most law-abiding parts of the Victorian community is not fit to be the Police Minister, and she should apologise and resign immediately.”

Obtaining a firearms licence is a time-consuming process with many background checks undertaken – including checks related to domestic violence.

“Anyone who has a firearms licence has proven themselves to be an upstanding, fit and proper person in the community. They are the group least likely to be perpetrating domestic violence,” Mr Park said.

“I cannot reiterate strongly enough just how utterly disgusted we are with the Police Minister’s insinuations. They are shameful and she should be ashamed of herself for uttering them.”

Mr Park said the fact gun stores were the only general retail outlet ordered to stop trading with a particular group of customers was further proof the declarations had nothing to do with public safety or domestic violence concerns.

“If Ms Neville is so worried about domestic violence, why is Bunnings still open? They sell axes, chainsaws, poison, and all manner of other dangerous items,” he said.

“What about places selling kitchen knives? Camping stores selling knives? Sports stores selling baseball bats? They’re still open and trading.

“Why are bottle shops still trading? Everyone knows alcohol is a massive factor in domestic violence incidents.”

Mr Park said the Government’s statements proved the sales restrictions had nothing to do with ‘public safety’ or domestic violence and everything to do with blatant, hateful and damaging discrimination.

“Substitute ‘hunters and recreational shooters’ for ‘the LGBTQI community’ or ‘black people’ and see if the rationale Ms Neville provided is OK. And the answer is no, because it’s not OK,” he said.

“We have said it before and we will say it again: There is no public health risk involved in letting licensed gun shops sell ammunition and parts to all licensed shooters, not just primary producers.”

“Yes, there’s a pandemic on, but that’s not an excuse to start pushing a discriminatory agenda under the blatantly false cover of ‘public safety’.”

Mr Park said there was also the very concerning fact the Victorian Government had apparently just admitted it has no faith in the integrity of its own firearms licensing system, despite having spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the registry over the years.

“If they’ve admitted they can’t get that right, what other serious public health and safety matters are they dropping the ball on?,” he asked.

Mr Park said there was a strange idea among the public that guns were readily available to anyone, when that could not be further from the truth.

“I cannot make this any clearer: No-one, even with a gun licence, can walk into a gun shop in Victoria, pick out a firearm, and walk out the door with it right away,” he said.

“Buying a gun requires a licence – which requires numerous police and background checks and takes several months to get – as well as a police-issued permit for every additional gun the licence-holder wants to get.

“There are already checks and balances in the system to ensure unsuitable people do not legally acquire firearms.

“We fully support licensing and background checks to make sure only upstanding, law-abiding people can buy firearms – but we will not tolerate those upstanding, law-abiding people then being slandered by the same Government responsible for issuing them a gun licence in the first place,” he said.

GunHub republishes media releases that we feel are relevant to our readers. The views contained do not neccessarily reflect the views of GunHub.

Luke
Luke is one of the co-founders of GunHub and has helped build GunHub into a platform for other gun owners to buy and sell guns easily.

Latest Stories

Latest Videos

Join the GunHub Facebook Group!

Buy, Sell, Swap and Chat with other gun owners for free.

Share this post with your friends

Share on facebook
Share on google
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin

Featured Stories you may have missed

.223 vs .308

People like comparisons and such writing forms always have solid tracking and following. Considering that logic, ammunition cartridges comparisons are quite popular among lovers of

.17HMR vs .22 Magnum

The real ammunition development begins with the introduction of the first self-contained, all metallic cartridges around 1845 in France. Louis-Nicolas Flobert created the first integrated

.243 vs .308

Comparing the .243 Winchester vs .308 Winchester There are not so many fertile calibres such as .30-06 Springfield that have spawned and inspired the creation

Report Abuse

GunHub takes safety seriously. Please fill in the form below to complete the report and we will investigate within 24 hours.

Enquire about this Item

We will email the listing owner on your behalf, they will be able to respond to your email directly.

Please select a valid form.