Rifleman cops slug
Independent Weekly, Page: 2. Friday, 3 April, 2009
Fifty-eight-year-old pensioner Peter Dainis had a rifle lying around, and thought he shouldn’t. He thought he’d hand it in to the police. That was a mistake.
“I had this old .22 single shot rifle,” Mr Dainis told The Independent Weekly. “An old Landmann, a German brand. I used to use it as a rabbit gun but it wasn’t much good. It had a shortened barrel when I got it second-hand years ago.
“It had a full-sized stock and why somebody would cut part of the barrel off I don’t know.
“All I know is that it wasn’t a good rifle.”
The rifle was unregistered, and Mr Dainis never had a licence, so last month he handed it in at the Christies Beach police station.
“When I took it in, I was expecting to fill out some forms, do a bit of paperwork. I was thinking I ‘d be issued with some sort of receipt as proof that it had been handed in or whatever, for the police ‘s record as well as for mine” What he got was a lot more than that.
“They took me to some sort of interview room where they grilled me for over half an hour. Then they charged me with two offences, possessing a firearm and having a firearm without a licence,” he said bitterly “All I was doing was the right thing. I didn’t have the rifle for any nefarious purpose. I didn’t want to have it at all.
“I could have chucked it over a bridge or dumped it in the bush or anything, but I didn’t. I handed it in to the police.”
Mr Dainis could now be facing fines of up to $50,000 or imprisonment for 10 years for having a prescribed firearm, and $10,000 or imprisonment for two years for having an unregistered firearm.
In a bizarre twist, it turns out that if Mr Dainis had walked into the police station two weeks earlier to hand the rifle in, he’d not have been fined or charged because the Government was having one of its regular gun amnesties.
The latest amnesty, a period during which the public is allowed to surrender firearms without penalties, ran from December 1, 2008 to February 28, 2009.
“As a government we feel it is imperative to make every effort possible to reduce the ability for weapons to fall into criminal hands.” said Police Minister Michael Wright. “Through gun amnesties we have significantly reduced the number of weapons in the community, and importantly diminished the opportunity for them to fall into the wrong hands.” The Minister could not say why there was no permanent amnesty, and Police Commissioner Mal Hyde was circumspect.
“While people are generally encouraged to surrender such firearms even outside an amnesty period, circumstances of each case are taken into account,” said a spokesperson for the commissioner.
“This matter has specific circumstances that are currently the subject of an investigation and charges have been laid, so no further comment is possible at this time.
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