No guarantee on gel blaster licences before end of amnesty, says SA Police
Police say they are prioritising gel blaster licences but despite just a handful of owners applying to legally keep their banned toys there’s no guarantee of approvals before the amnesty ends.
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Police are prioritising firearms applications put forward by gel blaster owners since regulations were introduced last week – but just 11 applications have been made so far.
The new laws introduced on Thursday class the toys under the Firearms Act meaning owners need to surrender their guns within a six month amnesty period or obtain a gun licence. More than 100 gel blasters have been surrendered to police across the state in the last week, meaning 62,000 remain in South Australia homes and businesses.
Superintendent Stephen Howard, the officer in charge of the Firearms
Branch said police are prioritising the firearms licence applications but could not guarantee they will all be approved before the amnesty period ends.
If approved for a firearms licence, you are required to do a TAFE safety course.
SA police are working with TAFE to introduce a specific gel blaster and paintball related course which is cheaper and shorter than the current gun safety course costing $220, run over two days.
“It is also working to inspect premises who want to host gel blaster activities so people can return to using them.”
Superintendent Howard said it should not be a surprise for gel blaster retailers of the new laws, since the suspension of the importation of the imitation guns was introduced in February.
“For people to say it comes as a surprise, is a surprise.”
He thanked those who have already done the right thing by suspending their guns but urged those who haven’t to do so or apply for a licence. He said there is no compensation in the amnesty surrender.