PLEASE SIGN MY PETITION.

Please sign my petition if you DON'T think that a non percussion muzzle-loading pistol is likely to be used by a criminal in this day & age.

https://www.change.org/p/to-the-hono...nce/u/22524289

 I would like to see all non percussion muzzle-loading pistols placed on a non restrictive licence. At present all reproduction muzzle-loading pistols are only available on an "H' class licence & can ONLY be used on a club pistol range. Antiques can not be used at all unless once again they are licenced & registered (NSW). I can find no record of criminal use involving a muzzle-loading pistol in the last 100 years, so this to me only goes to prove that gun control has NOTHING to do with public safety!
Keith.

Which is Which?

Some of these flintlock pistols are reproductions and some are antiques, can you tell which is which? The NSW police commissioner can't, and neither can the local police. In fact the majority if not all of the local police don't even know what a muzzle-loader is and have no interest in them. Recently when I tried to hand in an illegal reproduction muzzle-loading pistol they told me they were not interested and told me to take it home again!!!
So if the police don't care, and the commissioner of police can't tell an antique from a non antique, why are we being given a hard time over this issue? Why can we own, but not use an antique gun without license, without registration and without a permit to purchase, and yet we can not own a copy of an antique flintlock pistol without an "H" class license (!), registration and a permit to purchase?! I mean these are one and the same except for the manufacturing date.
So this is an open letter to the NSW Police Commissioner. Sir, can you tell the difference? And if so what is the difference? what is the difference between flintlocks made after 1900ad and flintlocks made before 1900ad ? Why are post 1900ad flintlocks classed the same as breech-loading semi-autos and revolvers and pre 1900ad flintlock pistols are not? I would really like to know. I mean if I am not allowed to legally own one, I would like to know why.

If you chose number 2 as a reproduction, sorry but you are wrong. It does look different, but it is an original. This you see is how absolutely stupid the NSW firearms legislation is regarding flintlock firearms. I had to take mine to a gunsmith to get them authenticated because the police officer who checked my guns could not tell a breech-loader from a muzzle-loader or an antique from a non antique. So here they are giving me a hard time over my antique long guns, and at the same time telling me to take an illegal repro back home with me because they did not want it! They are not even going to charge the chap who illegally sent it to me claiming it was an antique!!!

So what people say is absolutely true, the police are actually protecting the criminals and yet persecuting honest law abiding citizens. Just what in hell are we supposed to do about that?

Letter to our Local MP.

If you agree with what I have said here, I urge you to write to your own local state MP.

Keith H. Burgess. Wychwood Forest, MSF 2007, Armidale 2350.

The Hon. George Richard Torbay, MP. northerntablelands@parliament.nsw.gov.au

Dear Sir,

I have written to you before regarding the matter of antique flintlock muzzle-loading firearms versus modern made flintlock firearms. But as nothing has been done to amend the legislation I thought it worth writing you again.

Antique flintlock muzzle-loading pistols & long arms do not require a firearms licence, registration, or a permit to purchase. Modern made copies of the exact same gun do require a firearms licence, registration, & a permit to purchase. This makes no sense, & the requirement of licences, registration & permits to purchase also means more work for the NSW Firearms Registry & the Police. The extra work & costs involved in separating 18^th century muzzle-loading guns from 21^st century muzzle-loading guns is simply not sensible.

This is not the only problem. A few months ago I was subject to a firearms check. The police sergeant attending was ignorant of the content of the firearms legislation. He did not know what a muzzle-loading gun was & told me he would have to report me for having illegal firearms that were not registered. These were antique muzzle-loading guns made before 1900ad. By law he should have confiscated these guns if he truly believed they were breech-loading firearms that required licence & registration, but he did not. I then at my own expense had to take my guns to a gunsmith in Arding so that he could verify that these guns were in fact muzzle-loading firearms & that they were in deed antiques.

Recently I purchased what was supposed to be an antique flintlock pistol. This pistol however turned out to be a copy. The person who sold it to me broke the law be posting this firearms through the mail, because it was not an antique. By law I had to turn this gun over to the police, so I took it to Armidale police station. The police did not want it! They had never seen a muzzle-loading gun before & were not interested. They told me to forget about it & take it home again!

Due to this ridiculous legislation I could not do this & so had to insist that they take this pistol, log it & give me a receipt. The point here is that the police themselves don’t care whether or not anyone owns a muzzle-loading pistol, so why is such a gun restricted by law? There is no difference between a flintlock muzzle-loading pistol made in 1750ad & the same identical gun made in the 21^st century. It is not as if the guns made now were actually breech-loading & just made to look like a muzzle-loader, this is not the case. These modern made flintlocks are in every way the same as the originals. They need a piece of rock to create sparks to ignite the priming powder which in turn has to ignite the main charge. No wonder the police are not interested in these guns.

 ([2] Section 6A Exemption for certain firearms manufactured before 1900

Omit section 6A (1). Insert instead:

(1) A person is exempt from any requirement under this Act to hold

a licence or permit in respect of the possession of an antique

firearm.

An antique firearm is defined and one made before 1900, with the same commercially available ammunition requirements as before . A functioning copy of an antique firearm is a replica firearm and is treated the same as modern firearms, regardless of the availability of commercial ammunition. The corresponding clauses of the Firearms Regulation 2006 are repealed, moving control of antiques to the main act from the reg. 

To take all flintlock muzzle-loading guns, including flintlock pistols, off licence, off registration & off permit to acquire would save the Government a lot of money & free up Police service staff for more important duties.

Your assistance in getting this legislation amended would be greatly appreciated.

Yours very sincerely,

Keith H. Burgess.

New England Colonial Living History Group 1680-1760. N.E.C.L.H.G.

Member of: Australasian Living History Federation. A.L.H.F.

Registered with: Australia Register of Living History Organisations. A.R L H.O.

Calls For A Change to Antique Gun Laws. A Video.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-30/calls-to-change-antique-gun-regulations/4402182

Breechloaders & Muzzleloaders, the Difference. Legislation.