SA judge says he is astonished firearms laws allow suburban residents to build ‘armouries’ of 33 guns as collections

A SENIOR judge sentencing a teenager who exchanged 33 guns for cash and drugs says he is “astonished” the state’s firearms laws permit people to “congregate an armoury” in their homes.

A SENIOR judge sentencing a teenage gun runner says he is “astonished” the state’s firearms laws permit people to “congregate an armoury” in their homes.

Youth Court Senior Judge Stephen McEwen today ordered the youth, now 18, serve one month’s detention before being released on a two-year good behaviour bond.

He said that was fitting punishment for the youth who, in exchange for $500 and some cannabis, gave his drug dealer access to his father’s 33 shotguns, rifles and handguns for theft and resale.

Senior Judge McEwen said he had struggled to comprehend the number of licenced and registered firearms owned, legally, by the youth’s father and kept in gun safes.

“It does seem astonishing to me that an act like the Firearms Act, which strictly controls use, possession and distribution of firearms, allows someone who’s not a dealer to congregate an armoury, really, in a suburban home,” he said.

“That lends itself to precisely the situation we have here.”

Anti-gun campaigner Mark McPherson praised Senior Judge McEwen’s comments, dubbing them “a real question we have to ask”.

“This is absolutely something that needs to be looked at, and we need to have a real change to our mindset on this,” he told The Advertiser.

“People say they want to ‘collect’ guns, but we as a society have moved on in the world.

“If an outback station can be safely run with a rifle and a .22, why would anyone need to have 33 guns in the suburbs?”

The youth, of Semaphore Park, pleaded guilty to one count of supplying a firearm to a person who was not authorised to acquire a weapon.

He allowed his drug dealer to steal his father’s weapons between August 8 and 19 this year, believing he would receive half their sale price but instead getting cash and cannabis.

Last week, prosecutors said 18 of the firearms had yet to be recovered by SA Police.

They compared the boy’s crime to that of Charles Alexander Cullen, who provided murderer Liam Humbles with the gun used to kill Lewis McPherson in December 2013.

In sentencing today, Senior Judge McEwen said agreed the youth’s actions were serious.

“This was not a spur-of-the-moment offence, it was entered into for financial gain or, as it turned out, cannabis gain,” he said.

“At 17, he would not have as much insight as an adult about the seriousness of the potential consequences of this offending, and of these firearms entering into the underground market.

“Irrespective of that, he did this knowing that it was putting these weapons into circulation, and the type of person he was providing them to.”

He said he had discounted the youth’s penalty on account of his plea, “candour” with police and offer to give evidence against his adult co-offender if required.