National gun safety group push to tighten controls
A POLICE blitz on gun dealers across Victoria to check their storage of firearms is urgently needed, according to a national gun control group.
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POLICE should urgently check how Victorian gun dealers are storing firearms, a national gun control group says.
Following Monday’s firearms theft from a Thornbury gun dealer, the head of Gun Control Australia is pushing for a legal requirement that storage units be made of high-grade steel and fitted with an alarm linked to a security firm.
Sam Lee also told the Herald Sun new laws were needed under which the licence of a gun dealer or gun owner who breached storage rules would be immediately suspended.
GCA says that according to data it obtained under Freedom of Information, Victoria was the state in which the most firearms were stolen in 2013-15: 1451 weapons were taken.
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Ms Lee said: “A substantial number of firearms thefts are helped by premises not being properly secured and firearms owners or dealers not adhering to firearms storage regulations.
“Firearms theft is a major source for guns flowing into the illegal gun market. Once (that happens) it is hard to get them back out again,” she said.
Holders of firearms licences are required to inform police of the storage location of each firearm, and can face up to four years’ jail for failing to store their guns correctly.
Firearms storage requirements for licensees vary.
In the case of a general-category handgun, the Firearms Act says it must be in a locked, steel safe of a thickness “not easily penetrable” and which, if it weighs less than 150kg empty, is bolted to the ground.
Anyone with more than 15 firearms on the premises must have the property fitted with an alarm with a visible warning light which will sound in the event of an intrusion.
To be eligible for a firearms licence, applicants must detail their reasons for applying, and supply supporting evidence.
Strict criteria to validate applicants’ reasons apply.
Those applying for a long-arm licence might say they want it for clay-target shooting, for primary production, or for professional hunting.
But those saying they want a firearms licence for hunting, for example, must prove that they depend on hunting as a source of income and that they have contracts to hunt professionally, and also provide evidence of ownership, occupation or management of the land where the hunting is to take place.
Reasons for applying for a handgun licence might include employment as a security guard or prison guard, and target shooting.
Applicants must pass a certified firearms safety course.
Depending on what firearm is chosen, the shooter might be required to provide Victoria Police with a full set of fingerprints, which costs up to $88.
Applicants must submit to identity checks, and if there is a medical history to report, a medical report from a doctor must be supplied.