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NSW gun control promises 'not good enough'

An activist group calling for gun control restrictions says Labor and the coalition's pledges to not weaken gun laws in NSW are not good enough.

Pledges from NSW's political leaders that gun laws won't be weakened aren't good enough, according to activist group Gun Control Australia.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian says she won't allow gun laws to be watered down while Opposition Leader Michael Daley has promised to quit the parliament if it passes legislation to weaken the existing regime.

Both leaders have been under fire ahead of Saturday's election over preference deals with minor parties who would like to see gun laws relaxed in NSW.

"It (a pledge) is not enough," GCA president Samantha Lee told AAP on Friday.

"The main voice being heard at the moment is the gun lobby voice and that's through preference deals. We've not yet had a seat at the table."

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Labor is preferencing the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party in some lower house seats while the Nationals are preferencing the Liberal Democrats in the upper house.

Ms Lee said Liberal Democrats leader David Leyonhjelm, who on March 5 suggested New Zealand-style gun laws be implemented in Australia, was "atrocious on gun control".

"He is probably one of the scariest voices out there on gun control," she said.

History showed once the gun lobby had the balance of power in any house, NSW governments "become susceptible to doing dirty deals", Ms Lee concluded.

Mr Leyonhjelm on Friday told AAP it was hard to take Gun Control Australia seriously "when it only represents one person in NSW and one in Tasmania".

"I've never misused firearms in my life and find it absurd that I'm labelled scary," the party's lead candidate said in a statement.

The proud sporting shooter said he supported keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people "via licensing".


2 min read

Published

Source: AAP



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