The Herald Sun’s coverage of Australian Border Force (ABF) seizing more than 4,000 firearms and parts (“Australian Border Force seize more than 4000 guns amid calls for new gun ownership ban”) is a textbook example of lazy journalism being exploited by anti-gun lobbyists to push an agenda that has nothing to do with facts — and even less to do with public safety.
Let’s be clear: guns seized at the border are not the guns of licensed firearm owners. They are the result of illegal importation, criminal enterprise, and loopholes in freight and customs controls. The law-abiding, highly regulated sporting shooters of Victoria are not — and have never been — the problem.
“Nobody is more concerned with firearm safety than licensed firearm owners,” said Barry Howlett, Communications Manager for SSAA Victoria. “We are the ones who complete mandatory safety training, undergo background checks, store firearms under strict requirements, and engage proactively with police and government agencies.”
Instead of coming to subject matter experts for comment, the Herald-Sun went to the Australian Gun Safety Alliance, a misleadingly named lobby group that is little more than an astroturf extension of the Alannah and Madeline Foundation. News Corporation, the parent company of the Herald Sun, has formally partnered with the Alannah & Madeline Foundation for various campaigns, fundraising efforts, and public awareness drives and the Herald Sun has historically promoted the Foundation’s agenda without critical analysis, often echoing its calls for tighter gun laws or portraying its positions as neutral public safety campaigns rather than advocacy. While the Herald Sun claims editorial independence, its longstanding partnership and alignment with the Alannah & Madeline Foundation’s anti-gun positions often blur the line between journalism and advocacy. For those involved in public policy debates — especially around firearms — this nexus warrants critical scrutiny. The public deserves transparency about who is shaping the narrative, and why.
SSAA Victoria is the state’s premier shooting organisation and Victoria’s largest provider of firearm safety training — for recreational, occupational, and government users alike.
If the Australian Gun Safety Alliance truly cared about safety, they would start by understanding the difference between law-abiding ownership and criminal trafficking.
And their credibility takes a further hit when they can’t even tell the difference between knives and firearms. If you’re going to campaign on safety, get the basic facts right. Anything less is irresponsible.
The Alliance’s call to set arbitrary limits on the number of guns a person can own — a move that mirrors the shambolic and deeply unpopular laws recently introduced in Western Australia — is not only bad policy but bad for community safety. Those WA laws are now under review by the Parliament there because they’re widely seen as overreach and have alienated the very communities they were supposed to engage.
“Reactionary scaremongering is not in the best interests of the community,” Mr Howlett said. “Jumping on the bandwagon of flawed legislation, chasing headlines, and demonising the most law-abiding cohort in Australia will do nothing to reduce firearm crime.”
Licensed shooters are subject to some of the most rigorous regulatory oversight of any group in the country. Setting arbitrary limits on legally owned private property, while ignoring the reality of illegal imports and organised crime, is a political distraction — not a safety solution.
If Mr Bendle and others in the anti-gun lobby are truly interested in safety, they would take a more honest, informed, and balanced approach — instead of engaging in silly sloganeering and politicised panic. There is a big difference between regulating criminals and punishing responsible citizens.
Australia deserves better than clickbait and confusion masquerading as policy debate.