Amnesty called as firearms possession rises
Canberra Times, Page: 3. Saturday, 28 February 2009.
Police arid governments are calling on Canberrans to throw down their guns.
Police Minister Simon Corbell and ACT Policing announced yesterday a three-month gun amnesty in the territory.
From tomorrow until May31, people can surrender unregistered guns to police with no questions asked.
Mr Corbell said the amnesty would also target illegal firearms and unlicensed shooters with unregistered guns.
“We don’t want a situation where [unregistered or illegal] firearms are available in the broader community,” he said.
“That simply magnifies the opportunities for organised crime, in particular, to get hold of those firearms.” A no-prosecution policy will apply to anyone who hands a weapon in before the end of May.
Superintendent Michael Chew said the ACT did not have a gun problem.
“The worrying thing is the possession of unlicensed firearms, or unlawful firearms, has actually increased slightly,” he said.
The number of offences involving a firearm halved in 2008 from the previous year to 14.
Superintendent Chew said the amnesty would reach out to people who had unregistered firearms such as shotguns and rifles collecting dust in their homes.
Weapons surrendered to police would be destroyed.
They should be handed in at police stations or the Belconnen firearms registry, unloaded and in a secure case or bag.
NSW will conduct a similar amnesty at the same time.
The territory’s last gun amnesty was in 2003.
At the time a $1.2 million buyback scheme was funded by the federal and territory governments.
Superintendent Chew said the buyback netted 895 weapons.
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