Bruce Francis Bull pleads guilty to selling gun with altered serial number

A regional Queensland gun dealer has faced court after a simple detail spotted on one of more than 130 guns bought at Noosa landed him in trouble with the law.

Bruce Francis Bull, 69, pleaded guilty in Gympie District Court to a charge of selling a firearm interstate despite it having a defaced or altered serial number.

An Amamoor gun dealer, cattle farmer and electrician has been fined $5000 after selling a revolver to a South Australian buyer despite it having a modified serial number.

Bruce Francis Bull, 69, and his wife Wendy Joy faced Gympie District Court Wednesday, more than three years after they were charged over the illegal sale of a Colt Anaconda .44 Magnum revolver.

The couple had been expected to go to trial this week over two charges of disposing or selling a firearm interstate with an altered or defaced serial number.

However, hours before the jury was to be empanelled Bruce pleaded guilty to the charge against him.

The charge against Mrs Bull was dropped.

Ahead of the sentencing, Bull told the court the gun had been handed in to a Noosa dealer during an amnesty in 2017.

Wendy and Bruce Bull had been expected to head to trial over two charges of selling or disposing of a firearm with an altered serial number, but before the jury was empanelled Bruce pleaded guilty to the charge. The charge against Mrs Bull was dropped.

“We bought it off him when he was closing down, with about 130 or 140 other firearms,” Bull said.

He said the changed serial number had not been picked up by police despite an audit at the time.

The gun, which he said had been registered under the altered number, was then on-sold by the couple to a South Australian buyer in June 2020 for an undisclosed amount.

Judge Glen Cash said this did not absolve Bull of his obligations as a dealer.

He should have seen the sanded off area where the original serial number had been when initially inspecting the gun.

“It was still his job to look,” Judge Cash said.

Bull’s barrister told the court the altered serial number had not left the gun in a state where it was “unregistered” or “untraceable”.

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Gympie District Court heard the gun had been handed in to a Noosa dealer during an amnesty in 2017, and bought by Bull alongside more than 100 other firearms when it closed. Judge Glen Cash said Bull still was responsible for checking the serial number was correct before he sold it, and fined him $5000.

There was “no chance” it could escape into the community and it was not a danger to the public, the court heard.

Judge Cash noted Bull did not seem to show any remorse over the crime, but accepted it was unlikely to happen again as Bull no longer had his associate firearm dealer’s licence.

Bull’s criminal history included pleading guilty in a New South Wales court in 2021 for illegally selling gun parts.

He was fined $15,000 for those offences.

Judge Cash ordered Bull to pay an undisclosed amount in restitution, along with the fine.

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