Gun owners urged to lock up firearms
REGISTERED gun owners are being warned to lock up their guns after two thefts of firearms in the Geelong region in the past week.
The thefts from homes in St Albans Park and Herne Hill coincide with police being given the power to issue onthe-spot fines to registered gun owners who do not comply with storage guidelines.
From Monday, owners of airguns, rifles and shotguns storing their firearms incorrectly will be hit with a $322 fine.
The fine also applies to ammunition storage following a legislative change expanding police powers to issue warn- ings and take gun owners to court.
Owners of semi-automatic rifles, pump-action shotguns, tranquilliser guns and other high-powered firearms will still face court for failing to store firearms correctly.
Geelong district firearms officer John Dunstan said the crackdown coincided with Operation Bolt Action, which has checked gun storage conditions at 1500 homes of registered owners in the past year.
“It’s a timely reminder for firearms owner to conduct their own audit on their gun storage,” Leading Senior Constable Dunstan said.
He said registered gun owners must store firearms in a metal case with a sturdy lock that cannot be easily pene- trated, with any safe weighing less than 150kg when empty needing to be bolted to the floor or wall.
Sen-Constable Dunstan said Operation Bolt Action had lowered the number of gun thefts in the region from 56 in 2015 to 26 last year.
“So far this year we’ve had 10, though we’ve had two of those in the past week,” he said.
“Of the 10 we’ve had this year, four of the firearm owners have found themselves either charged with failing to store firearms correctly or they had their licence suspended or both.”
Officers have given 109 gun owners 21 days to improve their storage facilities as part of the operation.
“We’ve given people well over 12 months to start getting their storage compliant and we will run the education side of things until the end of this year and then we start issuing fines for those who don’t comply,” Sen-Constable Dunstan said.
Recent seizures included a rifle stored on a laundry basket and guns stored under a mattress in Corio. He warned firearm owners not to store guns in wardrobes, flimsy clothes lockers or under mattresses.
The penalty for people possessing, carrying or using a gun without a licence starts from a $19,000 fine or two years in jail.
There are about 9000 registered firearms owners across Greater Geelong, Colac and the Surf Coast.