ONE of the dubious pleasures of 21st century journalism is the continual wading through an ocean of emailed media releases that is constantly refilling no matter how quickly you delete them.
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A friend laughed the other day when he picked up my phone and saw the little red tag over the email symbol, reading 41,936. That's just the unread ones.
Send enough emails, visit enough websites, and your email address will spread as quickly as the Delta variant. Every day I get messages from around the world, some relating to the areas report on, but many of them from mass, indiscriminate mail-outs. A half-second glance, and they're gone. But one on Thursday morning caught my eye.
It was headed "Media Release: FedEx / TNT cancels the entire Australian firearms industry risking Australia's security", and it was sent by the the Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia, or SIFA, which describes itself as the firearms industry's peak body, formed in 2014.
"Operating in the civilian, law enforcement and military markets, SIFA is a genuine partner with government and police in the the safety of Australian communities," the foundation says on its website.
The release, authorised by the foundation's chief executive, James Walsh, quoted a "simple form letter" dated July 7 and sent by FedEx-TNT to firearms businesses across Australia, saying that from August 9 "we will cease the transportation of firearms, weaponry and ammunition to both our domestic and international networks".
"It is quite scary that in Australia a foreign owned business can set up shop, become the major industry player and then cancel essential business services to an entire industry that also services government defence and law enforcement contracts crucial to our sovereignty, safety and security," Walsh said.
TNT was a venerable Australian company formed in 1946 and taken over in 2016 by FedEX in a $6.25 billion sale that has taken years to fully bed down.
I spoke with Walsh on Thursday, and to the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA) Newcastle branch secretary Arthur Hodgetts yesterday. The FedEx move has relevance here. Hodgetts said the Newcastle branch was the second largest, with 6200 members, after Sydney, with 36,000.
Walsh said the shipping of firearms was highly regulated and that it was likely the FedEx ban would extend to the military and law-enforcement agencies as well.
"This smacks of cancel culture," Walsh said. "It's more 'woke' thinking. We've had banks refusing to provide EFTPOS services or to take transactions over the phone. We've had insurance companies refusing to insure fireams businesses."
Hodgetts also pointed to pressure from all directions on shooters. Both men pointed to a September 2019 report on the "economic and social impacts of recreational hunting and shooting" commissioned by National Party Victorian Senator Bridget McKenzie (of 'sports rorts' fame).
Based on surveys of 16,000 shooters, it put the number of recreational shooters at 642,000. The proportions increased with age, peaking in the 60 to 74 years group. One of its statistical findings was that shooters had greater "global life satisfaction" and scored higher on a "personal wellbeing index" than non-shooters. They're not happy now.
Neither TNT nor FedEx appears to have made a formal public statement about what the letter describes as an international change. If it is coming from the US headquarters, as looks likely, it's a big change from early 2018, when FedEx was pressured about giving discounts to National Rifle Association members in the wake of a mass shooting that killed 17 students at a Parkland, Florida, school.
FedEx had previously announced a ban on shipping firearms in and out of Canada, but the fine print goes on to say that such shipments will need prior approval.
Clear as mud.
Hodgetts wonders about the influence of proposed NSW legislation - the Firearms and Weapons Legislation Amendment (Criminal Use) Bill 2020. This went to a committee chaired by Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party MLC Robert Borsak, and with Greens MLC David Shoebridge as deputy chair. Borsak said in the committee report that the bill was "poorly written" and extinguished the presumption of innocence as if it "did not extend to licensed and lawful firearm owners".
Whatever is happening, "law-abiding firearms owners" - the SSAA's preferred description - feel themselves cornered in.
TNT has rivals, however, including the federal government's own Australia Post.
A company online statement says: "Firearms and firearm parts will not be accepted into Australia Post's courier network or Express Post network and will not be carried by air." The fine print, though, says it "does not absolutely prohibit the lodgement of firearms and firearm parts in the mail", and that state and territory laws apply.
Again, clear as mud.
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