Gun Control Australia (GCA) is an Australian incorporated anti-gun association that advocates for tighter gun laws. It
website
is run by volunteer

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

s, public health academics and

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

s. The organisation is funded by community donations and is not officially affiliated with any political party. The organisation was originally known as the National Coalition for Gun Control, established by Rebecca Peters. The current GCA was incorporated in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

on 26 August 2013. Its Chair is Samantha Lee and Vice President is Roland Browne, both are lawyers who have volunteered in the area of gun control for over ten years.

History

There was a Gun Control Australia (GCA) based in Victoria that was formed by an activist named John Crook, who from the late 1970s wrote articles and made presentations challenging the basis of private firearms ownership. In 1981, Mr Crook used the public concern from the killing of two girls in separate crimes in 1981, and with the support of the victims' parents formed "The Council to Control Gun Misuse". The group was strengthened in 1987 after the spree killings in Hoddle Street and Queen Street in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. In 1988 after the Hoddle and Queen Street shootings, a local group was formed under the aegis of Jac Renzenbrink to see what could be done. This group was augmented by John Crook, who had been active in gun control ever since the Bacsa shooting, Jim Williams, a former shooter, and Carolyn Worth, a women's rights activist. Later on Roland Brown and Lee Rhiannon became involved. One result of these meetings was the publication of Gun Control Review (ISSN 1032-674x) in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

by Jim Williams and Peter Baird. It ran to three issues and its recommendations foreshadowed the legislation implemented under

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...

. A trifold pamphlet entitled ''Gun Control: some questions and answers'' was also produced. Currently Gun Control Australia receives public donations.

Activities

Samantha Lee has written various opinion pieces for ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. John Crook, has written or edited many articles and booklets, self-published under the banner of Gun Control Australia, the last in 2003. GCA maintains a website and occasionally features in media reports on gun law issues. At its height in the mid-1990s, its spokespersons were very prominent in media discussions and conferences on gun violence. A short-lived website claimed major public health and other associations as its members, but was removed about 1998. In 1996, Rebecca Peters, the then Chair of NCGC, received the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's Community Human Rights award.

Membership

Prominent former members, who are no longer involved with NCGC or GCA, include Simon Chapman, who has published research on the effects of gun control laws, Rebecca Peters, who went on to work for IANSA, an international gun control NGO, and former co-chair and spokesperson Tim Costello.

Litigation history

GCA has attacked the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA), a federated group of

shooting sport Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such ...

clubs with over 180,000 members at 2015, as "extremist" and "pro-violence". In 1995, GCA were taken to court by the SSAA for this comment. GCA's lawyers successfully defended the case on the then-new basis that they were engaging in constitutionally-protected

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognise ...

References

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External links