MP admits almost shooting brother

A FORMER Tasmanian and now NSW Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham has told the NSW Legislative Council he pointed — and fired — a pistol at his brother when growing up in Tasmania.

During a debate on a firearms law amendment, Mr Buckingham, 43, related the story in the context of the danger of weapons not being stored properly.

“As a 15-year-old, my father had a friend come and stay with us,” he said. “He and his wife were estranged. He was a shooter, and they had particu- lar laws in Tasmania that allowed him to carry a number of firearms, including a .22-calibre handgun.

He left that handgun in our house next to the toilet. He was reloading ... he left it there.”

He said he came home, went to the toilet and noticed the “small, rusty handgun”.

“I picked it up. I walked out of the toilet and I was bouncing it in my hand — I’d never seen a handgun in my life.

“I bounced it in my hand. I walked out of the toilet and into the kitchen and I put it underneath my brother’s chin and I pulled the trigger. “And it clicked.” Mr Buckingham said he then tried to fire the gun again.

“I looked around. I pulled it again and I blew a hole in the wall. Gunpowder everywhere,” he said. “The only reason I did not kill my brother was because ... he had left first chamber empty. It was a revolver.”

According to Wikipedia, Mr Buckingham grew up at Taroona and attended Taroona High School.

He worked in a sawmill run by former Greens leader Kim Booth and played in a Tasmanian heavy metal band known as Amplifire, which included his brother Jessie Tambo Buckingham.

A spokesman for Mr Buckingham said Mr Buckingham had not realised it was a real pistol at the time and believed it was a toy.