Gun enthusiasts shoot effigy of gun control activist Sam Lee in ‘vile’ video
Sam Lee described the video as vile. Photo: ABC
Police have been asked to investigate footage of a man shooting and setting alight an effigy of Gun Control Australia leader Sam Lee.
The YouTube video shows two gun enthusiasts customising and demonstrating a controversial Adler lever action shotgun.
The video then cuts to a blonde doll, dubbed “Sham Leigh from Fun Control Australia”.
The doll is shot multiple times until the head blows apart, which is then replayed in slow motion. The effigy is then set alight.
The man responsible, identified as “Marty” from the Queensland-based group Shooting Stuff Australia, has defended the video.
He told the ABC in an email: “All of our videos are light-hearted satire made for entertainment purposes.”
But Sam Lee said she believed the video was designed to threaten and silence gun control advocates.
“This video is vile,” Ms Lee said.
“I was shocked there was such a brazen, personal approach to this video trying to silence voices in relation to the Adler campaign.”
Ms Lee said she had reported the video to police in NSW and Queensland.
Ms Lee, a lawyer, has asked the police to investigate whether the video constitutes the use of a carriage service to menace and harass.
Ms Lee has campaigned hard for a permanent ban on the importation of the Adler lever action shotgun, which can fire eight shots in as many seconds.
The video is being promoted on the Facebook page of the South Australian company, Ignition Custom Engineering.
The company, which is operated by Nik Halliwell, sells magazine extension kits for the Adler.
The kits are designed to extend the number of rounds the Adler shotgun is capable of firing.
In a statement to the ABC, Mr Halliwell’s wife and media advisor Myf Lloyd said: “We neither endorse nor disendorse the views contained within independent third-party reviews of our products.”
State and federal leaders will consider whether to impose stricter limits on who can legally own the Turkish-made Adler A110 at a COAG meeting in November.
“I want every politician, all premiers, all police ministers who will be at this meeting in November to watch this video, and to see that these guns are already falling into all sorts of hands,” Ms Lee said.
“We cannot go back to weak gun laws in this country. We have come so far, we have prevented so much death and so much grief through our sensible gun laws.
“Now is an opportunity for politicians to be courageous in their decision making.”
Watch the footage below:
-ABC