Young (and Old) Guns … The Australian …

… nice to be involved in an exclusive The Australian special on National gun registry and young (and old) gun shooters. The stories and pics ran over most of page 3 in today’s publication and centred on an imminent National Firearms Registry and the controversy over the legislation covering young shooters.

I spent a recent Sunday afternoon at a Mareeba Pistol Club obstacle shooting event talking and making images of the participants whose ages spanned from 12 to over 70 … all something new to me.

Although not yet published, my personal favourite image from that afternoon’s work was a portrait style grab of pistol packing 70 year old Torres Strait resident and experienced shooter Ian ‘Ging’ Butcher, ready to compete with his Infinity 38 SuperComp weapon … a gun with an over A$15000 price tag (top).

Second is the image that graced a large part of today’s The Australian page 3 … 12 year old Quinn Coates-Marnane … and third a screen grab of that page. Featured fourth is a portrait of already very experienced shooter 18 year old Bronte Matthews with hand on her Bul SAS 2 Ultimate racer 38mm Super pistol. Last is Quinn once again at the moment of firing a timed volley at a variety of static targets.

A different way to spend a Sunday afternoon … 

Images © Brian Cassey