Is A Bow And Arrow Illegal In NSW - The Loose Cannon By Simon Munslow | 5 May 2020

I have written previously about Weapons Prohibition Act 1996, and unfair results that can arise from its all-encompassing wording, which makes even the submarine pressure hull in the park at Holbrook, and WW1 trench art, prohibited weapons. (Schedule 1, 1A (1).

The prohibition of some of the items listed is understandable, however the definition of flick knife ‘a knife that has a blade which opens automatically by gravity or centrifugal force or by pressure applied to a button’ could be applied to many innocently owned folding knives where the screw between the bolster and blade has worked loose (Schedule 1 1(1).

A flame thrower is defined as ‘Any device that is of military design or any other device that is capable of projecting ignited incendiary fuel’- (Schedule 1, 1A (3).  So, a pressure can could be considered a flame thrower- so don’t try that James Bond trick any time soon.

Perhaps the most worrying is Sch 1 4(9) which prohibits:

‘Any device (regardless of composition) that is designed to propel or launch a bomb, grenade, rocket or missile by any means other than by means of an explosive, including a device known as a PVC cannon’.

Missile is not defined in the Act, but if one turns to the most commonly used interpretive aid in Australian Courts, the Macquarie Dictionary, it lists arrows as an example of a missile.

So, whilst clearly intended to target the PVC cannon- a tube used to fire frozen apples and oranges by using aerosol gas as a fuel, and a barbecue igniter as a trigger, (and which physics teachers love to demonstrate) captures the common bow and arrow.

I realise a lot of you are thinking at the moment, your daft, Game laws permit hunting with bows!

Yes, they do, but that does not mean that the bow is lawful!

You have to remember how much of an Ass the law can be!

Is this a mistake?  I do not think so.  This legislation has been written very broadly as a result of two things:

Policy Officers have not understood all of the permutations of weapon that could be involved, let alone quite possibly what they were seeking to prohibit, and there has been a desire to anticipate other types of devices, so the law has been written broadly.

The breadth of approach dovetails with another problem. Whether an offence has been committed or not often comes down to the interpretation of a Police Officer, and in some instances, the officer’s imagination, desire to protect the community from that imagination, plus the desire for a result.

Generally, Police do not go looking for this sort of prosecution, it would typically be by what a Police Officer considered a public order matter where someone had lodged a complaint, or a Policeman has wasted time attending your home in respect to an allegation of violence, or you have upset the officer, or for some other reason the officer is looking for a ‘result’.

Sadly, I see enough matters involving what I would class as petty criminal offences that to me should fall below a discretionary threshold decision of whether or not to be prosecute to cause me concern.

Should you go running off and lodge an application for a Prohibited Weapons Permit for a bow and arrow?

Here I can only speak for myself- and this is not advice- If I was just a bow hunter, I probably would not bother, but as a licenced firearms owner, I am particularly cautious about avoiding ANY breach of the law, including prohibited weapons legislation, because my firearms licence means so much to me, and a breach of the law for me, would have certain legal implications as a legal practitioner.

I am also conscious of an ‘attitude’ that some Police (thankfully not all) hold toward firearms owners and the impact of a culture of booking people in order to get a ‘result’, rather than the kind of community Policing / caution methodology used in other states that regards prosecution as a last resort.

If the Registry is concerned about a flood of Permit requests, from bow hunters, I make the following suggestion.

When I worked as a Regulatory Lawyer for the Commonwealth, we developed the concept of a Class licence, as a means of licensing everyone with certain types of equipment (ie CB radio) that we did not want to be bothered regulating. It worked well.

The logical choice here would be for the Commissioner to issue a Class Permit, that effectively grants a permit a device to certain types of prohibited weapon, which are held with a genuine reason for possession.

Another possibility would be a prosecution policy that removes low threshold offences from the realm of prosecution unless there is a significant aggravating factor.  The Director of Public Prosecutions in NSW has a clear policy in this regard, but I have been unable to find such a policy for Police.

The solution is quite easy- it just calls on some good will and common sense on behalf of regulators and a willingness to educate themselves about what they seek to regulate.

The outcome of such an approach would be that the public know where they stand, and at present, we do not.

Simon Munslow

National Firearms Lawyer
P: (02) 6299 9690
M: 0427 280 962
E: solicitor@bigpond.com
W: firearmslawyer.com.au

Simon Munslow is a lawyer who has a lifelong interest in shooting, having acquired his first firearm at the age of nine, and has had an active interest in firearms law since writing a thesis on the topic over thirty years ago at University.
Simon Munslow practices extensively in Firearms Law matters throughout Australia.

He is a regular contributor to the Australian Sporting Shooter magazine’s website on Firearms law matters, has published articles on firearms reviews and firearms law, and occasionally is asked to comment in the broader media on firearms matters.

This article is written for general information only and does not constitute advice.
He can assist you with:

Criminal law & Administrative law and in particular that related to Firearms

• All firearms, weapons and game charges
• Avoiding & setting aside Apprehended Violence Orders
• Possession of unregistered firearms
• Unsafe transportation & storage matters
• Applications for prohibited weapons
• License Appeals
• Freedom of Information / Government Public Access matters
• Importation & Customs problems
• Advices & opinions related to Firearms law matters

Tools of the Trade.

My tools of the trade.

Spence's Old Powder Horn.

No date on Spences horn, but obviously it looks pretty old, & Spence's images were so good I just had to ask Spence if I could use his images. Thanks Mate, very much appreciated.

Spence being Spence he just had to put this old horn back into service, so he whittled a new spout plug, bound it in linen twine & beeswaxed it for a good seal.

Thanks again Spence, great images.

Keith.

More on this horn at: http://minuteman.boards.net/thread/354/simple-old-powder-horn?page=1&scrollTo=2713

Blades Update.

I thought I had posted on this earlier, but a search came up blank! So here are some images of my blades including the new clasp knife I am now carrying.

Hunting knife.

Legging knife.

The clasp knife my eldest son gave me.

My tomahawk.

Getting Rid Of That Gamy Taste.

Soak the meat overnight in salt water/brine or vinegar. Wash the meat before cooking.

The Mayflower's Only Surviving Gun.

The Mayflower Wheellock.

http://www.nramuseum.org/guns/the-galleries/ancient-firearms-1350-to-1700/case-3-old-guns-in-the-new-world/mayflower-wheellock-carbine.aspx

http://www.beretta.com/en-us/mayflower-gun/

Guns & Stalking Horses.

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=bT4tAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=18th+century+shot+sizes&source=bl&ots=VLFzue4Snt&sig=U6JknT8A8RCxqZVSsJ0bGvNcdUU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiw7-i4sPXeAhWBeysKHZ74D3Q4ChDoATAEegQIBhAB#v=onepage&q=18th%20century%20shot%20sizes&f=false

PLEASE, sign this petition.

A Muzzleloader Is Not Considered A Firearm In America.

Modern muzzleloaders are considered “antique firearms” as they are replicas of pre-20th Century designs, with certain other limitations.

In fact, the Gun Control Act of 1968 defines an antique firearm in Section 921(16) as any firearm manufactured before 1898, including those with a matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or similar ignition system. Replicas of such firearms are also considered antiques as long as the replica is not “designed or redesigned to use rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition.”

http://guide.sportsmansguide.com/adventures/muzzleloader-considered-firearm/

But this is not the case in Australia, despite the fact that there has never ever been a mass shooting involving a single muzzle-loading gun in history! Why has there never been a mass shooting using a muzzle-loading gun? Simply because it is not possible; assuming the gun actually fires the first time (& the shooter manages to hit someone!), by the time the shooter has reloaded, everyone would have fled the area! Criminals & killers DO NOT use these guns; they only ever use modern breech-loading guns!

Ignorance & gun paranoia is behind the poor drafting of gun control legislation; both the general public & the government employees are to blame for poor insensible pointless laws concerning muzzle-loading guns of all types, & we, the muzzle-loader enthusiasts are the ones that are disadvantaged! Please, do the research; educate yourselves before supporting this law against the purchase & use of muzzle-loading pistols on private property. This is NOT a weakening of firearms law; this is a correction of a firearms law. PLEASE, sign this petition & give us a fair go.

https://www.change.org/p/to-the-honourable-the-speaker-and-members-of-the-legislative-assembly-of-new-south-wales-in-parliam-muzzle-loading-pistols-to-be-placed-on-a-less-restrictive-licence/u/23507459

Call To Arms! All Muzzle-Loader Users PLEASE Sign This Petition!

The law against using these primitive tools off the range has no legitimate reason for existing, it was shear ignorance on the part of the law makers that placed muzzle-loading pistols on a RESTRICTED license!

If we don't fight for our rights to legitimately use these primitive guns, then no one else will, because the majority of the Australian public are also probably totally ignorant in regards as to what these pistols actually are. Restricting these pistols has no basis in public safety, criminals do not use these guns & have not done so for at least the past 300 years!

So please, if you are a black powder enthusiast, a living historian or a historical re-enactor, sign this petition. 

https://www.change.org/p/to-the-honourable-the-speaker-and-members-of-the-legislative-assembly-of-new-south-wales-in-parliam-muzzle-loading-pistols-to-be-placed-on-a-less-restrictive-licence/u/23405047

Custom Made Knife From M. Jones of Uralla NSW.

A new addition to my small collection.

18th Century Angling. Hand lines & fishing poles.

Below: 17th & 18th century Fishing poles with fixed lines.

You will note that these fixed lines were often very short, the pole being used to drop the line away from the bank.

Below: Hand lines tied on bush poles 19th century.

Below:18th Century hand lines.

Hand Line Fishing 17th & 18th Century.

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=qyYRbGzqn08C&pg=PA126&lpg=PA126&dq=hand+line+fishing+18th+century&source=bl&ots=ej8QrPLFNG&sig=rXsDg2aL77LGnS7Nsqpypal9kmA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwja87LDj9HYAhUMt1MKHcNnCU8Q6AEIZjAO#v=onepage&q=hand%20line%20fishing%2018th%20century&f=false

http://www.historicanglingenterprises.com/

http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/hist/canp1/ca03beng.shtml

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=wkd3JHwDnKgC&pg=PA138&lpg=PA138&dq=fixed+line+fishing+in+the+18th+century&source=bl&ots=13KVZeLjAT&sig=jHys4yZEqPw7V0R2j37I-DW71A8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEjZ3is9HYAhXCuVMKHfYLC-UQ6AEIYTAL#v=onepage&q=fixed%20line%20fishing%20in%20the%2018th%20century&f=false

ISLAND CARIB FISHING TECHNIQUES6 French observers of the 17th and 18th centuries, including some excellent anglers, unanimously admired the fishing skills of the Island Caribs. These Indians, who expertly sought out productive banks and deeps (Breton 1665: 131- 132 S.V. chbbi, 355 S.V. minroua), even had a word translatable only as ‘(reproach to a man who does not know how to fish” (Breton 1665: 59 S.V. miticati. oue). Island Caribs frequently fished with handlines from their dugout canoes.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/aa.1966.68.6.02a00020/pdf

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/cultureheritage/10131abwfish.pdf

As you can see from above, period paintings of inland fishing always show the use of fixed lines on poles. However, it is evident that there were hand lines in use in the 18th century & earlier, in fact this method is probably one of the oldest methods of fishing. Travellers are not likely to have carried poles with them, these poles with fixed lines were used by city & towns people. Travellers could either use a hand line as is, or they had the option of cutting a pole & tying the hand line to the end of the pole. Hand lines can also be used as fixed lines, hanging from a tree branch & left overnight.

Author's hand lines & spare hooks.

Flintlock Hunting Sword.

German hunting sword with flintlock pistol, 18th century but no information on which part of the 18th century.

British Museum Shot Pouch. Undated!

 Museum number

Am1991,09.4

Full: Front

Rectangular flat pouch or bag, with strap, fingerwoven of wool. The flat bag is constructed from one or two pieces of red wool plaited cloth, with a central resist [undyed] paler horizontal stripe across the front. The vertical edges include black wool.

Rectangular flat pouch or bag, with strap, fingerwoven of wool. The flat bag is constructed from one or two pieces of red wool plaited cloth, with a central resist [undyed] paler horizontal stripe across the front. The vertical edges include black wool, with a line of opaque white beads and stitching in a brown vegetal thread. The bottom seam also includes stitching in a brown vegetal thread, with a line of quill wrapped wool fringing, each ending in a red hair filled metal comb, the colour of the quills being alternating black and white bands. The front of the bag is further decorated, just above the resist dyed strip, with a further fringe similar to that at the bottom. Woven into the front of the bag is a geometric design in irregular opaque white beads: two vertical lines of chevrons, with a double zig zag line up the centre and single zig-zag lines up both vertical edges. The points of the chevrons face downwards. The back and less faded side of the bag is decorated with a double row, vertical, each of butterfly-like geometric designs, each row being 3 high; the vertical seams each have rows of five small diamonds. All the patterns are in the same opaque white glass beads. The top of the bag is edged with green tape, enclosed in lines of white beads, back and front. The bag is lined with a coarse reddish manufactured cloth. // The strap is also plaited, in two greenish colours, that at the edge being slightly yellower than the reddish green colour of the body of the strap. The strap is attached by sewing with the brown vegetable thread at the two top corners of the pouch opening. The strap finishes on both sides with a plaited wool fringe, on the left [from the front] with six plaits, and on the right with five plaits. Woven into these plaits or braids are white beads, incorporating slightly darker green wool. The main body of the strap incorporates in the weaving a diamond pattern of white beads, with along the slightly contrasting colour edges, rows of white beads, at the absolute edge and at the boundary between the two colours. Repairs to the beadwork seem to have been carried out with this darker green wool.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?partid=1&assetid=110978001&objectid=516326;

The Flintlock Fusil.

Casting of birdshot and fowling lead balls. Diderot.

Plate I: Casting of Birdshot, Water Casting

Plate II: Casting of Birdshot, Water Casting

Plate III: Casting of Birdshot, Mold Casting

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=did;cc=did;rgn=main;view=text;idno=did2222.0001.496

Help Us Protect Hunting & Gun Ownership In Australia.

Help us protect hunting

The Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party on on the attack after new regulations have been delivered. Here is how it will affect you and what you can do to help. 

The Liberal - National New South Wales Government has released a consultation draft of the proposed Firearms Regulation 2017 and Weapons Prohibition Regulation 2017.

In a move reminiscent of John Howard’s 1996 gun reforms, these are some of the most draconian regulations ever.

These regulations, if passed in their current form, will affect every licensed firearm owner, hunting club and firearms dealer in New South Wales.

Here are just a few ways these new regulations will hurt law-abiding firearms owners:

Forcing all hunters and private landowners to supply private personal details to New South Wales Police before being allowed to hunt on private land (clause 32, 34 Draft Firearms Regulations 2017).

Refusing a firearms license or permit even if someone is innocent of an offence under the Firearms Act (clause 11, 23 Draft Firearms Regulations 2017).

Squeezing law-abiding firearms dealers out of business through further regulation and restriction (clause 41 Draft Firearms Regulations 2017).

As they’ve always done, the Government are punishing law-abiding firearms owners for the actions of criminals.

They know full well that the increase in law-abiding firearms owners is largely due to the increase in recreational hunting. They’re attacking legitimate hunters from safely going about their business and slowly trying to kill off all licensed firearms ownership.

Regulations, unlike Bills and Acts, do not have to come before the Parliament to be voted on. They are put in place by the the Minister for Police, National Party MP Troy Grant.

You can help RIGHT NOW.

The draft Firearms Regulation 2017 and draft Weapons Prohibition Regulation 2017 have been released for public consultation.

The closing date for submissions is 5pm on Monday 31 July 2017.

Please click on the following links for the:

Draft Firearms Regulations 2017

Draft Weapons Prohibition Regulation 2017

Regulatory Impact Statement

Let the Government know that you don’t appreciate being treated like a criminal in waiting.

There is no set format for submissions if you wish to make comments and you can keep your comments private if you choose so.

Email submission to (preferred option): firearms@mpes.nsw.gov.au

Our Loose Cannon writer, Firearms Lawyer Simon Munslow, has written a document which will assist you in writing to your local politicians and the NSW Police Minister to put the heat on the government over this issue.  You can download Simon Munslow's Correspondence Guide here.

Post submissions to:

Firearms Submissions
Office for Police, Department of Justice
GPO Box 5434
SYDNEY NSW 2001

Submissions must be received no later than 5.00pm Monday 31 July 2017.

Copies of all documents are available on the Department of Justice website.

Read more at : http://www.sportingshooter.com.au/latest/nsw-government-attacks-recreational-hunting?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%2028%20July%202017&utm_content=Newsletter%2028%20July%202017+CID_f0308b26265b69a26e10466effed15df&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=band%20together%20throughout%20this%20attack%20and%20sacrifice#KY4bHsYgPS9cFSV4.99

Flintlock Fowler, by Johann Georg Wisthaler of Munich.

Flintlock Fowler, by Johann Georg Wisthaler of Munich (active 1718-50).

This is a beautiful fullstock fowler that has all wrought iron and engraved mounts and very fine rococo ruffle and serpent head carving. He is identified by the Gold touchmark in the top of the breech. He is listed in Stockel as working in Munich between 1745 and 1748. This gun is 20 bore, with the barrel 35 3/4" long and it is 50 5/16" overall. Horn tipped ramrod, with a long jag on the end.

http://www.bartleyantiquesllc.com/all-items.html

Updated Images Of My Blades & Guns.