Formation | 15 April 1948 |
---|---|
Headquarters | Adelaide, South Australia Sydney, New South Wales Canberra, ACT |
Membership | 218,700 |
President | Andrew Judd |
CEO | Tom Kenyon |
Website | www |
The Sporting Shooters' Association of Australia (SSAA) is a federated non-government organisation established in 1948 as a representative body to promote shooting sports and protect the legal rights and interests of firearm owners in Australia. As of 2022 [update] the SSAA has a membership of around 218,000. [1] In addition to the state branches overseeing various clubs and gun ranges, SSAA also has a national political lobbying department and an insurance arm. State branches run local- and state-level shooting competitions, while the SSAA also coordinates competitions at the national and international levels.
On April 15, 1948, about 100 shooters met in the Sydney's Railway Institute Building in Elizabeth Street to form The Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia. One of the most notable changes since that time is the number of members, which continues to increase each year. In 1959, it had a mere 250 members, compared to today’s 218,700 members. Membership fees have also increased since the SSAA first formed in 1948, with urban members paid 10 shillings and country members paid 7/6.
The SSAA began in New South Wales because of the government’s increasing involvement in firearms legislation. In 1950, NSW adopted the title of "SSAA NSW" so everyone was clear that it was not just a "one-state organisation". State branches came into being at different times, with Victoria in 1951, Queensland in 1957, South Australia in 1964, the Northern Territory in 1965-66, the ACT in 1965, Western Australia in 1967 and Tasmania in 1969.
In 1962, SSAA National came to life as a result of a meeting consisting of 12 people. The group agreed that there was a need for a federal body, whose purpose would be to assist and advise state bodies. [1]
The SSAA is organised at the bottom level as local sporting clubs, around locations and/or speciality shooting disciplines or conservation activities. Members may be unaffiliated with a club, or members of one or more clubs. [ citation needed ] Clubs are organised in branches, where each club sends two voting delegates to the branch AGM. A state may have one or more branches according to the population and size of membership. State level executive teams deal with state level sporting management and legislative issues, and elect the SSAA National Executive Board. SSAA states it is independent of any political party and supports politicians who support recreational shooting and hunting while condemning those that work against its members' interests. Tim Bannister is the organisation's inaugural CEO.
The SSAA at the club and branch level has many thousands of volunteers and officials running competitions and managing facilities of their clubs for all levels of competition. The SSAA manages more than 16 handgun, rifle and shotgun shooting competitions at the local, state, national and international levels, as well as having several branches devoted to historic and collectible firearms. [ citation needed ]
The SSAA runs its own political lobbying department, the SSAA Legislative Action (SSAA-LA). The SSAA-LA is "dedicated to ensuring Australians are able to exercise their freedoms and calling out those who threaten those freedoms", and focuses on important political news, national and international perspectives on legislative and regulatory developments and other time-sensitive matters. The SSAA National E-newsletter is a free-of-charge subscription email service available to SSAA members, which allows subscribers to select preferred contents between regular and/or SSAA-LA news. Regular news includes current and upcoming news, views and events about firearms ownership, sport shooting and recreational hunting issues, plus special offers. SSAA-LA news includes important political news, national and international perspectives on legislative and regulatory developments and other time-sensitive matters. [2]
The SSAA also comprises an insurance arm, the SSAA Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd, which is based in Fullarton, South Australia and provides general insurance for the majority of major shooting organisations within Australia, as well as public liability insurance for SSAA members while shooting or hunting.
SSAA South Australia created its Conservation & Wildlife Management (CWM) branch in the 1990s, which focuses on the management of feral animals in South Australia. These include goats, gats, pigs, foxes and wild dogs, as well as occasional native species (in particular kangaroos) which are having a negative impact on the environment. CWM collaborates with government departments, non-government organisations, private landholders and universities, and offers a free service to land managers to target a specific species. One of their most successful projects was "Operation Bounceback" in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia. [3] It has won recognition and awards from government, the University of Adelaide, volunteer groups and the Nature Foundation. [4]
Each SSAA state branch runs/leases a number of shooting ranges and facilities, open to both SSAA members and non-members with varying fees and rules:
The SSAA publishes a range of publications, including:
The national branch of the SSAA collects tens of millions of dollars in annual fees. [5]
Gun laws in Australia are predominantly within the jurisdiction of Australian states and territories, with the importation of guns regulated by the federal government. In the last two decades of the 20th century, following several high-profile killing sprees, the federal government coordinated more restrictive firearms legislation with all state governments.
Spotlighting or lamping is a method of hunting nocturnal animals using off-road vehicles and high-powered lights, spotlights, lamps or flashlights, that makes special use of the eyeshine revealed by many animal species. A further important aspect is that many animals often remain to continually stare at the light, and do not appear to see the light as a threat, as they would a human. It is possible to carefully approach animals on foot to a short distance if bright light is continuously maintained on the animal, greatly improving chances of successful killing. Spotlighting may also be used as a method of surveying nocturnal fauna. Repeated, frequent spotlighting may have a detrimental effect on animals, and is discouraged.
The Riverina is an agricultural region of southwestern New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation. This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop into one of the most productive and agriculturally diverse areas of Australia. Bordered on the south by the state of Victoria and on the east by the Great Dividing Range, the Riverina covers those areas of New South Wales in the Murray and Murrumbidgee drainage zones to their confluence in the west.
The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFF) is a conservative Australian political party. It primarily advocates for increased funding and services for rural and regional Australia, protecting the right to farm, enhancing commercial and recreational fishing, and relaxing gun control for citizens.
Trophy hunting is a form of hunting for sport in which parts of the hunted wild animals are kept and displayed as trophies. The animal being targeted, known as the "game", is typically a mature male specimen from a popular species of collectable interests, usually of large sizes, holding impressive horns, antlers, furs, or manes. Most trophies consist of only select parts of the animal, which are prepared for display by a taxidermist. The parts most commonly kept vary by species but often include the head, hide, tusks, horns, or antlers.
Field & Game Australia (FGA) is an Australian non-government organization formed in 1958 for conservation, hunting, and clay target shooting. It is based in Seymour, Victoria.
The Presbyterian Ladies' College, Armidale is an independent, Presbyterian, day and boarding school for girls. The school is located in Armidale, a large rural town with a population of 28,000 in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia.
Robert Leslie Brown is an Australian politician. He was a Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 2006, when he filled a casual vacancy sparked by the retirement of long-time party leader John Tingle, until 2019, when he was defeated for preselection by Mark Banasiak.
The ANZAC Rifle Range is a rifle range located on the Malabar Headland, Malabar, in the City of Randwick local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It is headquarters to the New South Wales Rifle Association, and hosts the annual NSW Queen's Prize shooting competitions. The range is located on land owned by the Commonwealth of Australia.
Sunday Island is a low-lying, sandy, 16.2 km2 barrier island on the coast of Victoria, Australia. It is about 8 km long by 3 km wide and rises to a maximum height of no more than 15 m above mean sea level. It lies in Corner Inlet, South Gippsland, 4 km south-west of Port Albert and 215 km south-east of Melbourne. Although the island is surrounded by the Nooramunga Marine and Coastal Park, it is private freehold property, a game reserve owned by the Para Park Co-operative Game Reserve Limited. It contains an airstrip and a jetty as well as accommodation buildings for resident caretakers, visiting members, and their guests.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) is an independent state agency of the state of Tennessee with the mission of managing the state's fish and wildlife and their habitats, as well as responsibility for all wildlife-related law enforcement activities. The agency also has responsibility for fostering the safe use of the state's waters through a program of law enforcement, education, and access.
Gallery rifle shooting or gallery rifle and pistol shooting is a popular shooting sport throughout the world. In countries such as the UK, Ireland, Germany, South Africa and Australia national and international competitions are regularly undertaken. The discipline commonly uses rifles shot at short and medium distances chambered for traditional pistol calibers such as .22 Long Rifle, .38 and .357 calibers, .44 and .45. It is popular in countries where traditional pistol shooting is difficult or not possible. In the UK Long Barreled Pistols (LBPs) and Long Barreled Revolvers (LBRs) are also part of the overall discipline.
A hunting license or hunting permit is a regulatory or legal mechanism to control hunting, both commercial and recreational. A license specifically made for recreational hunting is sometimes called a game license.
The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) is a registered society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, whose mission is to promote and protect sporting shooting and the well-being of the countryside throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. It has a membership of over 150,000. Its magazine Shooting and Conservation had an average circulation of around 135,000 in 2017.
Australian Shooter is the official publication for the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA), specifically dealing with sport shooting and hunting in Australia. It is published monthly.
Gun Control Australia (GCA) is an Australian incorporated anti-gun association that advocates for tighter gun laws. Its website is run by volunteer lawyers, public health academics and social media activists. The organisation is funded by community donations and is not officially affiliated with any political party.
The Australian Deer Association Inc (ADA) is an Australian not-for-profit association incorporated in South Australia with branches in all states and territories.
Australia has a population of about 26 million while the Commonwealth Government estimating there are 640,000 recreational hunters in the country. There are around 6 million legally owned guns in Australia, ranging from airguns to single-shot, bolt-action, pump-action, lever-action or semi-automatic firearms.
The Invasive Species Council is an Australian environmental non-governmental organisation founded in 2002 to provide a specialist policy and advocacy focus on reducing the threat of invasive species that threaten the environment.
The World Forum on Shooting Activities (WFSA) is an association of several national and international associations for shooters, hunters and arms collectors, as well as various arms trading and industry groups. WFSA is one of the few recognized non-governmental organizations to be invited to speak at all five United Nations Small Arms Conferences. The main objective of the association is to support scientific studies, preservation, promotion and protection of shooting related activities on all continents.