I had a good friend in Australia. He told me he moved there because of the laws in England were becoming oppressive. So he moved to and worked in Australia. He had invested his life saving in expensive English doubles. One year the government of Australia required all guns to be registered. The next year the government required him to turn in his rifles and they paid him $700 Australian for his $20,000 to $30,000+ rifles. They destroyed the guns. It basically bankrupted him and he had to work many more years of his life. Years he thought that he’d live in retirement.
I know that those who lived through the 1996 mandatory buy-back would call bullshit on this.
1. Double rifles/shotguns were not in scope. AR15, AR18, Garand, Remington 1100, 7400, BARs, 10/22s were what was being bought back.
2. The prices paid were almost always at a price higher than their market value at the time.
3. There was also an appeals process available for truly outstanding items (like the presentation grade BARs, or Auto 5s).
It would have been impossible that a cabinet full of English Double Rifles (H&H, Purdey, Westley Richards, etc.) were in scope for the buyback, or bought back for $700 each. No [bleep] way. Plenty of old bolt and single shot rifles/shotguns were handed in as the owners didn't want to bother with registration AND the government was offering more than those [bleep] little guns were worth. Easy to hand in something that is of no value when someone wants to give you $250 to get it out of circulation.
I guess you’re calling my friend a liar.
Double barrels are legal, as are lever and pump action rifles, so if the claim is that he had to hand over his double barrel guns, yes that claim is bullshit.
