Australia - Uniform gun laws needed, say police

[Steven Mace]

Uniform gun laws needed, say police

By MONIKA BOOGS and AAP
17/04/2002

Police pushed yesterday for a national strategy to attack the flow of illegal handguns into Australia.

The move came as a crime expert warned the country could face rising homicide rates if the problem was not tackled.

The head of the NSW Firearms Trafficking Unit, Detective-Superintendent Helen Begg, renewed her call for uniform laws across states and territories after attending the Australasian Police Commissioners' Conference in Adelaide.

She said NSW had the toughest laws in Australia and other states should look at passing similar legislation.

The call for uniform laws was backed last night by ACT Police Minister Ted Quinlan.

Mr Quinlan said modern criminals were highly mobile and were probably trading off the fact that each jurisdiction had its own laws and systems.

"We need to work towards uniform systems," he said.

However, Mr Quinlan did not believe NSW or any other state's laws should be necessarily favoured over any others.

The states and territories needed to work together to come up with a framework that everyone could agree with.

Federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison said the NSW Government's past neglect of gun-smuggling issues had led to the state's current gun crisis.

Recent figures showing skyrocketing use of firearms in robberies in NSW and a spate of fatal shootings, including that of a police officer, led to the launch on Monday by NSW Police of tough new measures targeting illegal guns.

Earlier this month, NSW Premier Bob Carr and Police Minister Michael Costa blamed Australia's porous borders for the rise in gun-related crimes.

Mr Carr called on the Federal Government to provide additional funding for the Customs service to help stem the flow of guns. But Senator Ellison said yesterday that the Federal Government had pumped up funding and the problem should have been addressed at a state level a long time ago.

"It's past neglect by the NSW Government that's resulted in this proliferation of handguns . . . The National Firearms Safety Council said as much recently when it blamed the Queensland [and] NSW Governments for their lax firearms laws in recent years.

"We've got strict border control, we've increased funding to Customs by 50 per cent since the Howard Government came to power and it's well known the extensive efforts we've made to increase the border scrutiny."

NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research director Don Weatherburn warned that police needed to be more effective in controlling illegal guns - or Australia could face a rising homicide rate.

Dr Weatherburn said Australia had recorded a stable homicide rate for the past 20 years.

"If these sorts of trends continue, I don't think it will remain that way," he told ABC Radio. "But having said that, I'm not sure they will continue. A lot depends on how successful police are."

http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=national&category=general%20news&story_id=141829&y=2002&m=4

Steve Mace

[UGACherokee]

How much more evidence than this do they need that gun control doesn't fucking work?

[Steven Mace]

Police will show no mercy over illegal guns

MELBOURNE, April 21 AAP|Published: Sunday April 21, 4:56 PM

Gun owners found with unregistered or prohibited firearms could expect to face heavy fines or even jail with the end of Victoria's four-and-a half year amnesty, the government said today.

More than 40,000 guns were surrendered to Victoria Police for destruction during the amnesty, which ran from October 1997 until March 26, Police and Emergency Services Minister Andre Haermeyer told reporters.

Police took in 2,000 guns during the first three months of this year alone, he said.

But the Minister said the amnesty had to end eventually and now it had finished, anyone found breaking Victoria's gun ownership laws could expect to pay heavily.

"Anyone caught with an unregistered firearm faces up to four years jail and a fine of up to $24,000," he said.

Superintendent David Dettmer said the penalties were graduated but even possession of an unregistered .22 rifle could incur a $6,000 fine and/or 12 months jail.

Mr Haermeyer said that in addition to the 40,000 guns surrendered during the amnesty, 225,291 firearms were handed in across the state under the federal gun buyback scheme.

"Victoria is a safer place to be, with unwanted firearms destroyed and thousands of others brought into the licensing and registration system," he said.

http://www.theage.com.au/breaking/2002/04/21/FFXR6S50CXC.html

Steve Mace

[Steven Mace]

Hand-gun laws on agenda

30apr02

THE Tasmanian Government would consider any national move to strengthen gun laws, Premier Jim Bacon said yesterday.

Responding to calls for tighter controls on hand guns, Mr Bacon said if improvements to gun laws were proposed at the Police Ministers Conference in Darwin next month, they would be considered by State Cabinet.

"We have no intention of watering down gun laws in Tasmania," Mr Bacon said.

"The Tasmanian Government has been part of a national approach to gun laws and will certainly continue that.

"If there were to be improvements, then clearly that would be looked at first by the Minister for Police and Public Safety David Llewellyn and he would then come to Cabinet with it."

The National Coalition for Gun Control has called on all political parties to tighten hand-gun laws.

Coalition spokesman Roland Browne said that under current laws, members of the public could get licences for high-powered semi-automatic hand guns which contained up to 18 rounds.

"These guns are military weapons and ought not to be on the streets or in our homes," Mr Browne said.

The NSW Government has requested the issue of hand-gun laws be placed on the agenda of the Police Ministers Conference.

It is expected the meeting will debate uniform penalties for the illegal possession and making of hand guns.

Denison Green MHA Peg Putt said the lack of a ban on semi-automatic hand guns was a loophole in Australia's gun laws, which were introduced after the 1996 Port Arthur shooting massacre in which 35 people died.

She said the same controls in force for rifles should also apply to hand guns.

Opposition Leader Bob Cheek said the Liberal Party did not support a blanket ban on hand guns.

"But we do support tougher penalties for the misuse of hand guns, especially where they are used in the commission of a crime," he said.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,4226464%255E3462,00.html

Steve Mace

[Steven Mace]

Australia looks to extend gun ban

April 30, 2002 Posted: 0601 GMT

By Grant Holloway
CNN
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Australia will consider extending its ban on semi-automatic and automatic weapons to handguns following the Erfurt massacre in Germany at the weekend.
Semi-automatic handguns such as the one used by teenage German killer Robert Steinhaeuser are readily available in Australia, despite the outlawing of automatic and semi-automatic rifles about five years ago.

Prime Minister John Howard said Tuesday Australia had too many handguns and that the federal government would look at what it could do to bring down the numbers.

Howard said part of the difficulty in cracking down on handguns was that the ownership laws were determined by State governments, not federal legislation.

"I have sought some more advice on that issue which I hope to get today, and if there are further things that we at a federal level can do, we will do (it)," he said.

Howard said, however, that he respected the right of sporting shooters groups to possess handguns, as well as the police and other security organizations.

"I'm happy to put every option on the table and I'll renew my call to the state premiers if they have any suggestions they want to make to me they can ring me up and I'll be very happy to consider it because I think it is an appalling thing that handguns are still so freely available," he said.

Howard braved considerable opposition from the pro-gun lobby and rural groups in Australia to ban most automatic and semi-automatic weapons in Australia following the horrific Port Arthur massacre.

In April 1996, a young gunman, Martin Bryant, used semi-automatic weapons to murder 35 people and injure another 18 at the remote tourist destination of Port Arthur in Tasmania.

Criminal circles

But due to loopholes in State laws, handguns were not included in the weapons crackdown.

Australia's National Coalition for Gun Control said Tuesday high-powered, rapid-fire semi-automatic handguns were readily available across Australia.

"On the anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre, we call for the (state) police ministers and the prime minister to show the courage to move to immediately ban all semi-automatic handguns," gun coalition convener Samantha Lee said.

Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said Tuesday there were around 300,000 legally owned handguns in Australia spread amongst a population of 19.5 million people.

Thousands of these guns end up in criminal circles, she said.

http://europe.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/auspac/04/30/aust.guns/index.html

Steve Mace