Shooters Party
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The Shooters Party is an Australian political party. It was originally registered nationally, but is now only registered in New South Wales and South Australia.
The party came into existence on May 1, 1992 when the federal parliament passed laws preventing citizens from owning firearms for personal protection. It was founded by a number of pro-gun activists; most notably John Tingle, who was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council as a party representative. Tingle resigned in May 2006 after being diagnosed with cancer, and was succeeded by businessman Robert Brown as the party's sole representative in parliament.
The party's policies are entirely focused around firearms. Their central platform is that every law-abiding citizen should have the right to own and use a firearm. They have also strongly supported recreational hunting, and laws giving shooters access to land for hunting. The party's motto is "Reclaim Freedom".
They count among their achievements the lack of limitation on ammunition, extension of minor permits from ages 18 to 12, and an amendment to the Crimes Act which extends the right of self defense to a citizen wherever they are. The Shooters Party has also assisted firearms organizations.
In the federal election of 2004, the Shooters Party was deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission for failing to contest a federal election for four years.
The South Australian 2006 state election saw the Shooters Party run two candidates in the Legislative Council, Robert Low and Michael T Hudson, preferencing the Family First Party as well as the One Nation Party. The Shooters Party received 5991 votes out of 1055347 voters enrolled, which is 0.6% of the vote, with a 0.08 quota. Neither candidate was elected.
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