Moves to ease handgun laws for juniors

Young guns: The Shooters Party says junior competitors need high-powered handguns.

The Shooters Party has defended its push to allow minors as young as 12 to use high-calibre handguns in shooting competitions.

The proposal is contained in a draft bill that is before the New South Wales Upper House.

Under the current laws, juniors can only use low-calibre firearms in supervised shooting competitions.

The National Coalition for Gun Control says the bill aims to drastically water down the state's gun laws, which were tightened in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre.

The coalition's chairman, Roland Browne, says it is a dangerous move.

"These semi-automatic handguns are only designed to kill," he said.

"They are the sort of guns that are used in combat shooting and fantasy scenarios."

Mr Browne says it is a backward step.

"We're now going to see - courtesy of the Shooters Party - a move to allow kids to use firearms that have the same firepower as people use in the army or special operations police and from where we stand it's utterly unacceptable," he said.

But Shooters Party MP Roy Smith says he is way off the mark.

"These juniors were using these firearms a couple of years ago without any incident whatsoever and they should be able to do so now," he said.

Mr Smith says the current law is putting juniors at a competitive disadvantage.

"We're not talking about handling firearms dangerously," he said.

"We're talking about juniors who are competing in specialised comps on shooting ranges and under the supervision of licensed adults.

"We're not talking about kids taking guns home or to school. They're supervised on shooting ranges competing in target shooting competitions."

Related:

NSW Govt 'aiding push to ease gun laws'
The Greens have accused the New South Wales Government of courting the Shooters Party to help ease the passage of controversial legislation to ease the state's gun controls.