The way our Prime Minister happily uses the gun extremist Sporting Shooters Association (SSAA) shooting facilities is worrying.

The SSAA has long been closely associated with the American gun extremism of the National Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation.

All the signs suggest that the SSAA wants American-style gun laws in Australia.The US is sickly awash with all types of rapid-firing high-powered guns and in the continual grip of handgun addiction. Why then does our Prime Minister pander to these SSAA gun extremists who threaten the future of our successful gun laws? Do we have to remind him that the US has a gun homicide rate about 15 times greater than Australia – why help those who want US gun laws?

In Victoria the Brumby government’s ministers for Police and for Health are doing all they can to help the SSAA become more powerful and more legitimate by placing their representatives on advisory committees and providing funding.

Wake-up Ministers, here is the real future you are likely to be encouraging if you support American-style gun extremist groups who want easy access to ex-military rifles and handguns.

This excerpt is from the Washington Post newspaper. August 21, 2009. It is titled, Message in a Barrel – Bearing arms at presidential events.

The presence of firearms near events with President Obama this month, however, took our concern to a whole new level.

It seems to have started when William Kostric showed up outside the president’s health-care forum in New Hampshire last week with a gun strapped to his leg. That he also carried a sign that read, “It Is Time to Water the Tree of Liberty,” only fueled fears he might have nefarious intentions. That’s because it was a riff on a line from Thomas Jefferson that says, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” On Monday, a dozen gun-toting men, including one with an assault rifle, were outside Mr. Obama’s speech to veterans in Phoenix. The Department of Homeland Security has warned about an increase in right-wing extremism because of the soured economy and the election of the first African American president. So anxiety over the threat posed by armed men at political events cannot be sloughed off as merely paranoia.

Yes, all of these men were abiding by the law. In both New Hampshire and Arizona, it is lawful to carry a loaded weapon in public. Also, according to the Secret Service, the immediate area occupied by the president is considered a federal site, with no weapons allowed. This prohibition is enforced by requiring attendees at presidential events to go through magnetometers upon entry. The White House seems untroubled by it all. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has said, “There are laws that govern firearms. . . . [They] don’t change when the president comes to your state or locality.”

This is true. But American history is replete with examples of folks sending a message through the barrel of a gun. That’s why this new show-your-gun craze is frightening. Supporters of the Second Amendment ought to find another way to send their message — assuming it’s a peaceful message they’re trying to send.