Greens vow to impose three-gun limit

Posted on 23 January 2012 by Content Manager

Three guns will be the most you can own under new legislation the Greens have vowed to introduce to NSW this year.

"It is simply wrong that individuals can accumulate an unlimited number of deadly weapons, with next to no scrutiny of their need for these weapons," Greens MP David Shoebridge said.

The Greens want the reduce the number of firearms in the state and say that ridding the state of what they call "private arsenals" will give criminals fewer targets for theft.

Shooters and Fishers MLC Robert Borsak said the Greens' attack on law-abiding firearm owners was "laughable".

He pointed to figures indicating 85% of firearms seized from criminals had never been registered and that the remaining 15% had come primarily from security-industry, police or military sources.

"Picking on law-abiding firearm owners achieves nothing," he said.

The Greens appear to be using the current wave of gang-related crime in Sydney to push their anti-gun policies.

"While there are legal and appropriate uses for firearms, there is no justification for people owning a private weapons stash," he said.

He said three guns would be "an appropriate number" for licensed owners.

The Greens' statement said that in "exceptional circumstances" it may be possible for someone to own more than three firearms under their proposed legislation, and Mr Shoebridge told Shootingnews.com.au that collectors and sportspeople who could prove a need may be permitted to own more than three firearms.

He said no firearms would be taken from owners who already have more than three.

"It wasn't envisaged that there would be a requirement to surrender existing weapons, but there could be no replacement or additional weapons until you were down to three.

"They would not be able to replace like with like unless they were going below the three."

His announcement comes as new figures reveal the soaring popularity of firearms in NSW, with almost 112,000 permits to acquire issued by the firearms registry in 2009 and 2010.

That's up from around 82,000 in 2007 and 2008, a period that recorded a big jump from 66,000 in 2005 and 2006.

The numbers were sourced from the NSW Firearms Registry by the National Coalition for Gun Control.

NCGC spokesperson Samantha Lee told the Sydney Morning Herald the increase was a result of NSW dropping the requirement for a mandatory 28-day cooling off period when buying a second or subsequent firearm in a category where the licence holder already owns a gun.

In the SMH report, Lee implies that the waiting period is needed to assess whether applicants have a criminal record or other reason for refusal of the permit, when in fact those details were already checked when the firearm licence was issued and during the purchase of the first firearm of the respective category.

If the licence-holder's legal status changes at any time, the police can act immediately, irrespective of any additional purchases the shooters may make or intend to make.

NSW has about 188,000 licensed shooters and they own an average of four guns each.