Chief Inspector Newgreen stands firm on registration
Herald-Sun
2 November 1990
COMPULSORY registration of all firearms should be abolished, a former firearms registrar said yesterday.
Chief Inspector Lex Newgreen said it was the owners who should be registered, not their guns. Chief Inspector Newgreen came under intense pressure three years ago when he told the State Government in a report that registering forearms did not prevent or control criminal misuse of guns.
Nor did it discourage the irresponsible use of firearms, he said in the report, which had been kept under wraps until The Herald-Sun obtained a copy under the Freedom of Information Act.
Shortly after presenting his report to the Government, the man, the man in charge of Victoria’s firearms control suffered an angina attack and was transferred to other duties. Yesterday, Chief Inspector Newgreen stood by his advice to the Government. “My report was not well received because it was contrary to the Government’s policy,” he said.
In the report, he described the registration of all firearms as a waste of public money and time.
“Probably, and with the best of intentions, it may have been thought that if it were known what firearms each individual owned, some form of control may be exercised. “… and those who were guilty of criminal mis-use could be readily identified.
“This is a fallacy, and has been proven not to be the case.“
“In my view (firearms registration) does not repress or control the criminal mis-use of, or irresponsible use of, firearms,” he said.
Asked yesterday if he regretted taking such a strong stand, Chief Inspector Newgreen said: “How can you ever regret speaking the truth? I told the Government what I believed to be true and correct.”
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