Gun laws must be stronger
IF police investigations into incidents in which guns seem to have been fired at vehicles in the Gold Coast area confirm that even just one involved a firearm, that is one too many.
Someone could be killed. It is a grim consequence obvious to our city’s huge majority of decent, law-abiding people but evidently not on the radar of the moron or morons cruising the M1 and other roads at night and taking pot shots at other vehicles.
They may believe they’re only making mischief and giving someone a bit of a fright. The reality could prove to be very different, especially if a bullet strikes a motorist or scares a driver out of their wits and into the path of an oncoming car.
That sort of consequence would demand manslaughter charges at the very least, and an angry public would want to see the idiot responsible thrown in jail for a very long time.
These incidents are but the tip of an iceberg in this country, despite a mistaken belief that we can teach the United States with its perverse gun lobby and laws a thing or two about controlling weapons and gun crime.
We might think that the tough love dished out in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, when strict gun controls were introduced and owners were convinced to give up weapons now deemed illegal, has ensured Australia remains a safe place. We’re kidding ourselves.
Roving idiots with guns are just one manifestation of a problem that runs deep in society once again.
The ugly face of gun terror erupts regularly on the Gold Coast. Armed robberies involving guns and knives are not unusual. The city knows that gangs – which are on the way back as the State Government prepares to water down anti-bikie legislation – apparently have easy access to guns.
But the real shock came home almost a year ago when two brutal domestic violence murders occurred within a few days on the Gold Coast. In one incident, a man stormed into a fast-food restaurant, shot his wife dead in front of horrified witnesses and then turned the gun on himself.
How do these people gain access to such weapons?
It is obvious a black market is flourishing. It is just as obvious that the authorities have lost control of the so-called controls we thought we had after Port Arthur.
Our courts surely have the power to demand offenders reveal the sources of their weapons, yet how often do they quiz the criminals standing before them? In one puzzling case, a woman found with 704 military assault rifle bullets in her car was handed a community service order and walked free without having to fully explain where she sourced them and why.
If the courts do not have such an option, then it is high time lawmakers legislated so that judges can make such demands.
This is not a matter of protecting the rights of an accused. It is a matter of life and death for the law-abiding public.