Surrender guns without fear

National amnesty targets 260,000 illegal weapons

THE murder of Toowoomba police officer Brett Forte with an illegal firearm in the hands of a career criminal is a major contributing factor to a nationwide gun amnesty to roll out next month.

The three-month national gun amnesty from July 1 aims to remove 260,000 illegal, unregistered and undeclared guns from communities across the country.

Gun owners and anyone in possession of an illegal weapon will be given four options to surrender the firearms without fear of persecution until September 30.

Darling Downs City Patrol Group Inspector Stephen Angus said even one undeclared or unregistered firearm was too many.

“The Darling Downs district as a whole has a high percentage of firearms because it is fundamentally rural and firearms are actually an important part of any rural activity,” he said.

“We take the possession of unregistered firearms very seriously because the outcomes can be, as we’ve seen recently, a fatal threat to operational police.”

He said the majority of firearms owners were “decent, law abiding citizens” but even they could have unregistered and undeclared weapons.

The amnesty will give anyone with undeclared or unregistered guns the chance to surrender them without prosecution, and the weapons would not be tested and checked against previous gun crime.

“Historically we have found amnesties have been very effective in removing unregistered and unlicensed firearms from circulation,” Insp. Angus said.

“Our intent is to remove unlicensed firearms from general circulation and to ensure that licensed weapons holders declare or surrender undeclared firearms.”

Licensed firearm holders with undeclared guns will be able to apply to have them added to license “providing the licence conditions apply to those weapons”.

“Unregistered firearms can be surrendered to a dealer for sale,” he said.

“People with undeclared firearms who did not have a weapons licence can apply during the amnesty period to obtain a licence and the fee will be waived.

“In those circumstances they will need to surrender the firearm to a licensed firearms dealer or police station while they apply.”

Anyone surrendering guns during the amnesty is urged to ensure they first contact police if handing them in at a station, remove ammunition or bolt while being carried, and to ensure they were secure.