Far right takes aim at gun laws
Protests against recent gun law reform have spilled over into the political arena with the establishment of the Australian Reform Movement (ARM), a quasi-political party of the far right.
The extreme right-wing - largely controlled by the gun lobby - has been smarting since Prime Minister John Howard's Government succeeded in outlawing automatic and semi-automatic weapons this month.
The establishment of the ARM will consolidate the country's extremists and is certain to escalate a wave of defiance towards the new gun laws, which has already seen death threats made against several Cabinet ministers, MPs and journalists, and tighter security around the Prime Minister.
Ted Drane, who inaugurated the ARM in Adelaide on Saturday, said the group would oppose what he saw as the growing tendency of governments to 'trample individual rights' and that the right to possess firearms would simply be one part of the ARM's libertarian platform.
The group is said to have the backing of the 50,000-strong, largely rural Sporting Shooters' Association. Mr Drane said that while the group would not be fielding its own candidates at present, it would begin by lending support in the forthcoming Western Australian elections to 'independents who reflect our values'.
The formation of the political group comes as the gun lobby gears up for a major rally on June 15 in Sydney, where membership of gun lobby organisations has been increasing since the introduction of the new controls.
The rally will be the climax of a nationwide series of emotive, pro-gun meetings that have seen calls for the dismissal of the Attorney-General, and the comparison of government policy to slavery.
At the most controversial of these rallies, the vice-president of the National Firearm Owners' Association, Ian McNiven, sparked a police inquiry after he called on gun owners in Queensland to resist the new legislation with 'blood'.
While it has yet to be seen if the ARM will be anything other than a marginal force, the gun lobby has already mobilised enough pressure on Mr Howard's right-wing coalition partners, the National Party, to cause embarrassment to the Government and fears that gun reform resolve is softening.
