Australian leader says tough gun controls will tighten

Currently, lever-action guns have been listed in the least restrictive gun category since firearm laws were overhauled 20 years ago in response to a lone gunman killing 35 people in Tasmania state.

Gun-control advocates see that as a legal loophole that became widely known only through the advertising surrounding the Adler.

Turnbull told Parliament that the Adler ban would remain until state governments agreed on how such shotguns should be reclassified.

“We are not prepared to see those guns imported into Australia under the current classification which they have,” Turnbull said.

Independent Senator David Leyonhjelm accused the government of reneging on a deal with him to lift the import ban by Aug. 7.

Leyonhjelm, who argues gun laws have rendered Australians “disarmed victims,” said he agreed to support government legislation in the Senate last year in return for the government limiting the Adler ban to 12 months.

But instead of allowing the 12-month ban to expire, the government extended it while the states discuss how to treat the Adler.

“We had a deal, they didn’t stick to the deal, so how can I deal with them in the future?” Leyonhjelm told reporters Tuesday.

July elections left Turnbull’s conservative coalition government with a reduced minority in the Senate and more reliant on pro-gun, anti-establishment senators such as Leyonhjelm to get its legislative agenda passed.

The Adler ban applies to all lever-action shotguns with a magazine capacity larger than five cartridges.

Rod McGuirk, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Australian leader says tough gun controls will tighten

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