Big game shooter and gun dealer arrested over alleged illegal sale
A big game hunter who likes posing with exotic animals including dead elephants and monkeys has been accused of illegally selling firearm parts in regional NSW.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Madness in the ER as cop shot with his own gun
- Alleged gun runner with ties to Islamic State charged by police
A big game hunter who likes posing with exotic animals including dead elephants and monkeys has been accused of illegally selling firearm parts in regional NSW.
Registered gun dealer Bruce Bull, 65, was arrested by NSW Strike Force Raptor detectives and Queensland police at his gun shop and shooting range near Gympie.
NSW Police will allege in court Mr Bull attended a gun show in Bathurst and sold gun parts to another man without requesting to see a firearms licence while trading at the fair last March.
Mr Bull’s gun business Wattle Grove Park boasts a website adorned with pictures of his shooting safaris to Africa with his wife.
In them Mr Bull is seen posing with his gun next to a series of prone animals including antelope and buffalo. In one shot his wife stands over a hippopotamus.
“We are two very ordinary people who have been fortunate enough to live an extraordinary life full of adventure,” the couple say on the site.
“There are many hunts after this still to add but we just don’t have the time to do so.”
Mr Bull will appear in Gympie Magistrates Court today when NSW Police will apply for his extradition back to NSW to face firearm-related charges.
Police also searched Wattle Grove Park after his arrest and seized guns, ammunition, documents, mobile phones and computers.
The website states “we stock a selection of new and pre-used rifles, shotguns and pistols, including black powder rifles/pistols in various makes and calibres”.
The arrest comes after a two-year investigation into the supply of prohibited drugs and guns across NSW.
The NSW Government introduced a bill to parliament earlier this year seeking to crack down on illegal gun manufacturing, including targeting those who supply firearm parts.
The bill is yet to pass parliament.
Police Minister David Elliott said the new offences would apply to anyone involved in the illegal manufacture of firearms and would attract maximum penalties of 20 years in jail, similar to laws that already target the manufacturing of illicit drugs.
Last week, in an unrelated incident, NSW Police raided an old country pub northwest of Dubbo and found 700 guns in an “Aladdin’s cave”.
A 69-year-old man was arrested after that operation following a two-year investigation into criminal activity across NSW.
Among the weapons seized were 11 unregistered guns found in the basement of an old pub building.