Gun arsenals: Hundreds stockpiled in family homes across Sydney for $30 permit
HUNDREDS of guns are being hoarded in arsenals in homes across Sydney’s wealthiest suburbs — and it’s completely legal.
NSW
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STOCKPILES of hundreds of guns are being accumulated in arsenals in family homes across Sydney’s wealthiest suburbs — completely legally.
There are 15 Sydneysiders with more than 100 firearms registered and stored at their homes and some who have many more.
One Little Bay resident has stashed away an arsenal of 312 guns at their southern Sydney home, another gun enthusiast has 285 weapons registered and stored at their house in leafy Mosman and someone in nearby North Sydney has 268 firearms.
But the hotspot for Sydney’s guns seems to be the northern beaches, where the suburbs of Belrose, Collaroy and Narrabeen all have individuals with more than 150 weapons housed and registered.
The law in NSW requires someone wanting a gun licence to have a “genuine reason” to acquire a firearm, including sports shooting, hunting or vermin extermination.
Yet there is no statutory limitation on how many guns an individual can have — meaning 15 people across the metropolitan region have a cache of more than 100 guns to their name, acquired with a permit costing just $30.
Lesley Podesta, chief executive of anti-gun violence group the Alannah & Madeline Foundation, expressed alarm over the legal stockpiles.
“It defies credibility — it’s really hard to understand,” Ms Podesta said.
“Why should anyone be able to acquire 200 guns?
“It seems out of proportion to people’s ability to be able to use them legitimately for a hobby or on the land.”
Ms Podesta said the concentration of firearms at one location significantly increased the risk of criminal activity.
“We know that criminals like access to guns, and that number of guns in suburban homes is a good thing for community safety,” she said.
Opposition police spokesman Guy Zangari said the stockpiling of weapons posed a risk.
“These people have them registered — they aren’t breaking the law. But it does raise a concern and we must make sure that all steps are taken that these particular guns are locked away safely so they aren’t in the wrong hands,” he said.
“What price do you put on the safety of the community?
A report by Gun Control Australia released earlier this month showed that NSW and every other state in Australia has failed to properly implement the National Firearms Agreement.
Contrary to the NRA’s agreements, NSW legislation permits use of silencers, allows shooters to use semiautomatic weapons and provides no limitation on the amount of ammunition which can be purchased.
The Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party’s Robert Borsak said current regulations around firearms were sufficient.
“The issue isn’t legal firearms. If these firearms were such a big problem in safe storage, why are less than 3 per cent of guns used in crime legally registered ones?” he asked.
“The issue is the guns we don’t know about.
“There are people out there that would have multiple firearms, it depends on what shooting you’d do.”