Aiming for law reform - grieving family's gun battle

SHAMIN Fernando stood behind her father, pumping bullets into him with a pistol she had borrowed from her gun club.

Mike Gallacher

SHAMIN Fernando stood behind her father, pumping bullets into him with a pistol she had borrowed from her gun club.

The 45-year-old had depression, schizophrenia and paranoid psychosis, and believed she was in a pseudo-reality TV show made by her father.

Because, under section 6B of the Firearms Act, unlicensed shooters are allowed to practise at gun clubs without any background checks, she was able to borrow a semi automatic pistol to shoot at the club - then slip it in her bag and leave.

Two years later, her mother and two sisters are pressing the government to amend gun laws.

Carmen and Michelle Fernando and Dayanthi Bonarius presented Police Minister Michael Gallacher with a petition of more than 13,000 signatures, asking for section 6B of the act to be scrapped.This section was introduced by the Shooters and Fishers Party in 2008 and supported by the then Labor government.

"When something terrible like this happens to a family, the only way we can get closure is if we can make something good from our defeat, and I'm still waiting for that to happen," her mother Carmen Fernando said. "We will keep trying until it happens."

Mr Gallacher has referred that section of the law to the Firearms Consultative Committee, made up of firearms dealers and groups like the NSW Shooting Association and the Sporting Shooters' Association of Australia.

The Shooters and Fishers party is opposed to the law being amended to take out section 6B.

Shamin's sister Dayanthi said she would not stop until the law was changed: "I don't care how long it takes. I don't care what I have to do. It will get done."

Her other sister Michelle said it was clear they were not alone in thinking section 6B was dangerous: "This petition shows we have the support of the community, that the community recognises it is dangerous."