Hand em over: The NSW people told to steer clear of guns
The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal is the last resort for people trying to hang on to legal gun ownership. These are the men who tried to keep their firearms but failed and the reasons why their guns were stripped from them are shocking.
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Getting a gun in Australia is hard, that's how most people like it. But what happens when you've gone through all the red tape and something "unfortunate" happens?
From a bikie associate who wore a plastic gun to a party, to a skilled marksman who pulled out a pistol in the optometrist, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal is the last resort for people trying to hang on to legal gun ownership.
LONE WOLF BIKIE STUART DALZIELL
Former Lone Wolf member Stuart James Dalziell challenged the Commissioner of Police in court after he was hit with a Firearm Prohibition Order in July 2017.
NCAT documents show Dalziell told the tribunal that he had ever been National President or Chapter President of the Lone Wolves but admitted he was regarded as a “senior member”.
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But the FPO came alongside another order prohibiting him from “consorting” with a list of known convicts.
Dalziell had never applied for a gun and didn't intend to – but he challenged the order saying he didn’t want police to be able to come to his home where his wife and young children live.
He said police were relying on old convictions and incidents including when he found a shortened firearm and put it on display in his home, the documents say.
Then there was the time, in 1997, when police said he had armed himself with an imitation firearm.
Dalziell explained he went to a fancy dress party wearing pinstripe pants, a Stetson hat and a plastic gun in a holster – his mates told the tribunal he was dressed like a “gangster” but they knew it was a fake gun.
NCAT ruled against him, saying the prohibition order should stand.
TARGET SHOOTER KNOWN AS ‘DZV’
A woman identified as DZV was an avid target shooter who would take her three registered guns down to her local ranges.
But her husband, who had a long history of domestic violence and making unhinged threats, sparked a police investigation when he became suicidal, NCAT documents state.
Police triangulated his phone location and found him – he didn’t have a gun but allegedly had a key to his wife’s firearm safe in the boot of his car.
DZV’s guns were confiscated and her licence revoked after police visited her home.
The documents state her husband allegedly threatened to blow up a Centrelink, told a neighbour he was going to kill him and – that same month in 2010 – said he would shoot his doctor while in rehab.
DZV’s husband also had numerous domestic violence charges including when he “grappled” with his wife and allegedly bashed his daughter-in-law in a park until another man intervened.
NCAT in February, refused to reinstate her gun license because she didn’t appreciate the seriousness of losing track of her safe keys – particularly given her husband’s threats.
PISTOL CLUB FOUNDER RICHARD BROWNE
Richard Browne, a founding member of the Narrandera pistol club, would tell authorities he meant no harm when he allegedly wandered into his optometrist with a gun wrapped in a tea towel.
Browne, in May 2018, walked into the Leeton shop for his scheduled appointment and struck up a conversation with the receptionist.
NCAT heard he unwrapped the deactivated gun.
“(I was) showing the receptionist that I needed to focus on the front and rear sights which were needed to be seen by my right eye,” he told NCAT.
Documents state he held the gun up to the receptionist’s face.
Another customer walked in and Browne quickly put the gun away before he was called in for the appointment.
The shaken receptionist, NCAT heard, stuck a post-it note on the man’s file and handed it to the optometrist.
“Man in waiting room with unloaded gun,” it said.
“Scared the sh** out of me, help.”
NCAT found it was “unfortunate” but had concerns about Browne because he still “fails to understand that his actions were not those of a responsible firearms owner”.
They didn’t give him his license back.
GOULBURN FARMER JOHN FISHER
John Fisher, a farmer outside Goulburn, was allegedly involved in a long-running feud with his neighbour over an access road.
The dispute even ended up in the NSW Supreme Court.
NCAT heard it boiled over in mid-2018 after one built a fence across the access road, the pair clashed, and the Firearms Registry concluded Fisher might have a mental health issue.
They took away his guns but Fisher appealed and a psychologist gave evidence the farmer didn’t drink or do drugs, has no previous mental health diagnoses and is the sole carer of his three kids and farms through a drought.
But a different expert concluded he had “irrational behaviour and fixations”.
NCAT refused to return his license.
VETERINARIAN BRUNO ROS
Veterinarian Bruno Ros held a gun license for more than 10 years but, in 2016, it was temporarily suspended after police were called to a domestic dispute between him and his partner.
His rifle and ammo were allegedly found on the back seat of his car.
By 2018, with his license reinstated, Ros’ license was suspended again after he was hospitalised for wanting to self harm, NCAT heard.
The tribunal heard he threw his rifle bag, containing the gun, on the ground when police came to confiscate it.
Police would tell NCAT Ros shouldn’t have a gun because of his “volatile temperament, intermittent binge drinking and narcissistic personality traits” as well as his domestic violence and suicidality.
Ros disputed the police case and said he needed his gun as a country vet and had never threatened anyone.
He told NCAT people thought he had tried to overdose himself in 2018 – but he had simply “fallen into a trance” and had depression.
The tribunal did not give him his license back.
WOULD-BE OLYMPIAN GERARD FARRUGIA
Then there was Gerard Farrugia who told the registry he was a collector, training for the Olympics and a farmer – none of which he ever backed up, the documents state.
“His explanation for falsely describing himself as an Olympic participant was that he was being coached by an Olympian, Suzy Balogh, and that he had competed for New South Wales, a quite inadequate basis for the statement,” NCAT found.
Farrugia, NCAT said, didn’t provide all his correct names to the registry on three separate occasions.
He said he hadn’t had an AVO in the last ten years – but cops told NCAT he allegedly threatened his ex wife and was the subject of two orders which have since been revoked.
He also told NCAT it was a “mistake” to declare he was a collector or a primary producer in some applications.
“Multiple mistakes of that nature place a strain on credulity,” NCAT found.
The tribunal concluded his bad driving record, threat and false statements painted a negative picture and declined to return his guns.