AIC’s Firearm Trafficking and Serious and Organised Crime Gangs report

The Australian Institute of Criminology’s Firearm Trafficking and Serious and Organised Crime Gangs report, authored Dr Samantha Bricknell, says that despite strict regulations on the import, export, ownership, use, transfer and storage of illicit firearms, there exists in Australia a potentially large pool of illicit firearms, some of which are acquired, stockpiled and used for serious and organised crime. The complexity of illicit firearm markets has hampered abilities to predict and disrupt supply. It has also led to conjecture about the sources and mechanics of the market that without comprehensive analysis has been difficult to substantiate or refute. The report concludes that the ideal of a fully integrated data system, as envisaged in the National Firearms Agreement (1996), has been explored, but it is not yet realised. Small, incremental steps, including a commitment to upgrade technical expertise, create common ontologies and generate additional platforms for information exchange will assist in the momentum to develop data in a format and a level of completeness suitable to delivering the ‘cradle to grave’ benchmark crucial for accurately tracing firearms.

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