Corbell proposes tougher gun laws
Canberra Times, Page: 6. Friday, 11 April, 2008
The ACT Government has proposed tougher gun laws it says will prevent weapons falling into the hands of organised crime.
The Firearms Amendment Bill, which was tabled in the Legislative Assembly yesterday, will make it harder to obtain a gun licence and increase penalties for firearms’ offences.
But the ACT’s main firearms’ dealer says the proposal could be an unfair imposition on legitimate gun owners.
ACT Attorney-General and Police Minister Simon Corbell said the legislation would bring the territory into line with a national agreement on guns.
Under the proposal, officials can refuse to grant licences to gun dealers if there are criminal concerns about their "close associates". Close associates are defined as people with financial interest in the dealerships.
"That’s designed to ensure that organised crime doesn’t in effect become an owner of a gun dealership and use a bona fide person as a frontman," Mr Corbell said.
He said the ACT did not have an issue with black market weapons but the Bill prevented the ACT from becoming a target for organised crime.
"Clearly if the ACT didn’t legislate in this regard it could have been possible for organised crime to be associated with gun dealerships," he said.
Mr Corbell said the Bill increased penalties for firearms’ offences by five to 20 years.
Owning a prohibited firearm, an offence which previously led to six months’ jail, would now carry a 10-year sentence.
Canberrans applying for a gun licence would also need to provide 100 points of identification using driver’s licences or rental agreements.
Gun owners will also have to notify the firearms’ registrar every time their weapons change ownership, even temporarily.
The owner of the ACT’s main firearms dealership Shooters Wholesale, who wished to remain unnamed, said there were some parts of the laws which could have been simplified.
He said tightening regulations for gun owners was similar to randomly retesting people for their driving licence.
"I don’t have a problem with making firearms safer for the general community.
What I do have a problem with is that we put up a very high hurdle for someone who wants to be a firearms owner," he said.
"Then we continue to make them jump hurdles the entire time that they are a firearms owner. Once you are fit and proper for firearms ownership, why keep hammering honest individuals?" Mr Corbell praised the ACT’s two firearms outlets.
"I ’m very pleased to say that gun dealers here in the ACT have always approached their responsibilities very seriously and consistent with the law," he said.
"But it has been the experience of police services in other jurisdictions . . . that there have been some potential links between gun dealers and organised crime, particularly outlaw motorcycle gangs." Shadow attorney-general Bill Stefaniak said the Opposition would review the Bill closely and would discuss it with shooters’ groups and dealers.
"Whilst I applaud any step to make it harder for criminals to use firearms, I do think we have to have due regard to legitimate users such as sporting shooters and people at competitions." The Bill also decriminalises the ownership of paintball guns and allows people over the age of 18 to obtain a licence to own them.
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