NSW Gun Shop Owner Blames New Rules and Permit Delays for Closing

Bearing Arms columnist Cam Edwards writes about Badlands, a family-run gun shop in New South Wales, Australia, that shut down after eight years. Edwards argues the owner's experience shows how new firearm limits and licensing delays land on businesses that follow the law.

Key points

• Account source: The shop's story was laid out by Robert Borsak Jr., NSW state director of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party. Edwards notes the owners were not accused of any legal or license violations.
• Why it closed: Owner Zac Kirwans points to the state's new firearm limits and classifications, plus Registry delays on licences and permits to acquire that slowed normal sales.
• Ripple effect: Kirwans says a new shooter who cannot get licensed also skips scopes, ammunition, cleaning gear and hunting clothing. He called the trade "a complete system."
• Selling off stock: He was left with new firearms marked down near what he paid suppliers that still would not sell. The state offers re-establishment grants capped at $25,000, a sum he calls an insult.
• Family rifle: Kirwans worries that his grandfather's registered Winchester lever-action .22 Magnum, which holds 11 rounds, could fall under the new restrictions.

Quick take

Edwards argues that gun control can succeed without confiscation by making ownership and gun retail too hard to sustain. He says he is less worried about an Australian-style buyback in the US than about similar pressure in states such as California, New York and Massachusetts.

Read the full story at Bearing Arms.