Gun Control Australia (GCA) is a gun-control lobbying group in Australia. The group was formed in 1981 to press for stricter gun laws. In 2012 the spokespersons of the National Coalition for Gun Control (NCGC) merged with GCA. Its President is John Crook.
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History
Gun Control Australia (GCA) was formed by activist John Crook, who from the late 1970s wrote articles and made presentations challenging the basis of private ownership of firearms. In 1981, Mr Crook used the public concern from the killing of two girls in separate crimes in 1981, and with the support of the victims' parents formed "The Council to Control Gun Misuse". The group was strengthened after the spree killings in Hoddle Street and Queen Street in Melbourne, Australia, 1987.
The organisation was renamed to "Gun Control Australia" (GCA) in 1988.
In July 2012, GCA announced a merger with the National Coalition for Gun Control.
Activities
The President of the organisation, John Crook, has written or edited many articles and booklets, self-published under the banner of Gun Control Australia, the last in 2003. GCA maintains a website and occasionally features in media reports on gun law issues.
Gun Control Australia has produced booklets and articles on the social, ethical and legal aspects of gun misuse. It is independent with no connections to political parties, unions or professional organisations. It lobbied parliamentarians and once actively opposed what it called the "Gun Lobby" in Australia.
NCGC in its last years before the 2012 merger appeared only in very occasional press announcements. At its height in the mid-1990s, its spokespersons were very prominent in media discussions and conferences on gun violence. A short-lived website claimed major public health and other associations as its members, but was removed about 1998.
In 1996 the NCGC received the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's Community Human Rights award.
Membership
Prominent former members, who are no longer involved with NCGC or GCA, include Simon Chapman, who has published research on the effects of gun control laws, Rebecca Peters, who went on to work for IANSA, an international gun control NGO, and former co-chair and spokesperson Tim Costello.
Litigation history
GCA has claimed that the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA), a federated group of sporting clubs with over 180,000 members at 2015, is 'extremist' and 'pro-violence'. In 1995 GCA were taken to court for this comment. GCA's lawyers defended the case successfully on the then-new basis that they were engaging in constitutionally-protected free speech.