Manjimup gun club concerned new fire arm laws ‘restrict’ sporting enthusiasts

A social gun club in the Manjimup community has raised concerns about new gun reforms which they believe will target law-abiding gun users. Australia’s strictest firearms laws were passed in the Parliament of Western Australia last week to remove thousands of firearms from the community. While reforms aim for a safer WA, Warren Pistol Club secretary Jens Sundahl said it’s unfair for members of a gun club to be targeted for the sport they enjoy. “As with any sport and every sporting club, it is a community group,” he said. “People that are part of it come together with a common interest and they enjoy each other’s company, they socialise, they make friends,” he said. “It’s the same thing as a football club. Most of the people that are members of a football club never move to the AFL level. But without that local club level, you won’t have an AFL grade of player,” he said. For most of the pistol club members, it’s the only sport they enjoy. “For myself, I’m not into playing football, or cricket, and I can’t stand the idea of golf,” Mr Sundahl said. Furthermore, it’s more than a sport for people in rural towns. The club, like any other club in a small-town community, brings together people once a week on a Tuesday night. “A lot of the members own farms and travel a long way to Manjimup. This is their only social outing for the week —coming to the club,” he said. “We’ve got a history. It’s not just something for local people to run out to their local club and play on a Tuesday night. We had one member in the past represent Australia with the Commonwealth Games — from little old Manjimup. “I don’t disagree with gun law and gun control. It has to be sensible. You can’t go ‘everybody can have a gun’.” He said, however, law-abiding gun owners are feeling like they’re being targeted, restricted and attacked unfairly. Mr Sundahl said when the new laws were put to Parliament last week, they pushed it through “very quickly” without much debate or discussion. For some of the members, they have collected their firearms over decades as sporting enthusiasts and will now need to decide which guns to sell or hand in. “I hope it doesn’t come to the point where it limits our club to the point where we essentially will be closed down,” Mr Sundahl said. “We’ve got a rich history of the club. I’d hate to see the community lose a sporting club.”