Police concerned as gun violence in Victoria doubles in five years
Victoria’s gun violence crisis has exploded, with new figures revealing the shocking increase in firearm offences and sentences. It comes as a list of serious incidents continues to mount, including a Reservoir home which was twice sprayed with bullets last week.
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Gun crime in Victoria is surging, with figures showing the number of firearm sentences doubling in the higher and children’s courts in five years.
It also increased by more than a third in the Magistrates’ Court over the period between July 1, 2012, and June 30, 2017.
Almost 15,000 firearms offences were recorded over the period.
The statistics, revealed in the Sentencing Advisory Council’s report into firearm offences, also showed more than a third of people charged with gun crimes were on an order such as bail at the time of offending.
More than three-quarters of people convicted with gun offences had priors.
The increasing trend in armed crime worried Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton.
“Criminal offending involving firearms is of great concern to the community,” he said.
“This research shows an increase in the number of firearms offences sentenced in Victoria, as well as an increase in the proportion of offences receiving sentences of imprisonment.”
The surging numbers of firearm crimes over the period were most often associated with high-level crimes with at least two other charges.
In the Magistrates’ Court, they were most often linked with drug trafficking or unlicensed driving.
Children prosecuted for gun crimes were most often also sentenced for theft and less frequently for property damage.
Across every court system in the state, most people found guilty of carrying or using prohibited guns were jailed.
“This report provides insight into the difficulties courts face when sentencing firearms offenders, who often have significant criminal histories and complex personal circumstances,” Sentencing Advisory Council chair Prof Arie Freiberg said.
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“The nature of these offences is often such that there is a clear community interest in prioritising community protection as a purpose in sentencing.
“People sentenced for the offence of ‘prohibited person possess, use or carry a firearm’ are overwhelmingly receiving sentences of imprisonment, as well as having to serve the firearms sentence partly cumulatively on the more serious offences of which they were convicted.”
A growing list of serious crimes committed with guns in recent months has caused concern among police.
A home in Reservoir was sprayed with bullets in a targeted attack twice last week.
Crowd controller Aaron Khalid Osmani and patron Richard Arow died when the Love Machine nightclub was fired upon from a passing Porsche SUV on April 14.
Carnegie man Daniel O’Shea was murdered 12 days later in Fawkner Park.