By Lee Williams
SAF Investigative Journalism Project
Australians who defend themselves against an armed invader inside their own homes can be charged with a crime. That is how badly the laws have changed.
“We’ve had a massive increase of violent crime and we’re defenseless,” said Australian Topher Field.
Field is one of Australia’s leading Libertarian commentators. For more than 15 years he has used films, commentary and scores of public speaking events to inspire his countrymen to do what is right. He is up against one of the most civil rights-bending governments in this world, who instituted anti-gun laws at breakneck speed.
“We’re sick of gun control,” Fields said. “If a guy breaks into your home with a machete and you hit him with a bat you can be charged.”
To counter this, Field said, Australia’s One Nation party—a conservative political party launched in 1997 by Pauline Hanson—is growing in popularity.
“There’s a political awakening happening,” he said. “We’re famous for our rights attitude because we’ve been bitten on the bum. They’re now leading in the polls. Our candidate will be the next premier of Australia and will make it safer for Australians to use self-defense.”
Currently, anyone who wants to own a gun must first ask the police for permission and then pass a multitude of tests.
“If you want to own a firearm you must explain to the government why you need one, prove a lawful excuse and show you’re a member of a shooting club or have access to land where pests need to be controlled,” Field said. “The next step is a written application, which the police review. They call it their ‘fit and proper test.’ They decide if you’re fit and proper to own a firearm. In practice, that’s used as political leverage. I would never be granted a gun license in Australia.”
Australian police view any political dissent as a reason to bar someone from owning a firearm.
“During COVID, people would join our protests, which were more like rallies. Police would come in and use facial recognition cameras. If they found any protesters with a gun license, they would enter their homes and take their firearms. That amount of political leverage is scary,” Field said.
If an Australian gun license applicant passes all of the tests, they will be issued a license for a bolt action or single-shot rifle or shotgun. No semi-autos or even pump-actions are allowed. Licensees must store their weapons in a safe. Ammunition must be stored in a separate safe.
“The firing pin needs to be locked with the ammo,” Field said. “For all practical purposes the guns are not available for self-defense. If they are ever used for self-defense, all of the guns are taken by police.”
Legal handgun ownership is even more difficult.
“If you want to own a handgun, you’ve got to repeat the whole process and you’ve got to be a club member,” Field said. “If you cross all of those hurdles, once you’re permitted to acquire a handgun, it has to be locked up at your gun club for the first year of ownership. You can’t even take it home. It must be locked in the club’s safe. That’s the current situation. It’s so much worse than people think.”
As a result, if someone uses a firearm for self-defense in their home, police automatically assume the owner has been storing their weapon illegally.
One recent self-defense case has made news all over Australia. A farmer and his wife heard someone beating down their back door. They could see that the man was armed. The farmer grabbed his handgun from the gun safe while his firing pin and ammunition were still in their second safe. The farmer confronted the attacker with the unloaded pistol, and the suspect surrendered. The farmed then drove the suspect to the police department, which was 30 kilometers away.
“You would think that’s pretty clear-cut. The good guy didn’t hurt him,” Field said. “A couple weeks later police showed up at the house and investigated the farmer for a storage violation.”
Maduro diet
In 2015, Field spent a week in Caracas, Venezuela attending a friend’s wedding.
“It felt like Melbourne. There was beautiful architecture, people were friendly, birds were chirping,” he said. “It could have been Melbourne until I saw the breadlines. I was there for a friend’s wedding—a wealthy politically connected family. They had been stockpiling butter and flour for weeks. People call it the Maduro diet. People lost 25 pounds across the country.”
When he returned home, Field started thinking about the experience.
“We’re not special in Australia,” he said. “If we make the same mistakes, we’ll get the same results. If nothing changes, if we keep this government, where does it lead? It leads to Venezuela. I’m not being dramatic. There will be less ability to defend yourself. Functionally speaking, gun control in Australia is a government run protection racket for criminals. Criminals are protected by the government. Victims are punished.”
Said Field: “The road to Venezuela is paved with good intentions.”
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