Warning for gun owners

Gun owners are being urged to take care when camping or travelling with firearms to prevent theft.

Police across the Baw Baw police services area are concerned about an increasing number of firearm burglaries and thefts.

A number of these relate to firearms being stolen from vehicles, including incidents when hunters return from a trip and not unpacking their firearms or primary producers who leave a firearm in the ute and the ute gets stolen.

Police have reminded firearm owners they have a legal responsibility to ensure their firearm is carried and used in a manner that is secure and not dangerous.

They also need to take reasonable precaution to ensure firearms and cartridge ammunition are not lost or stolen. Failing to do this carries heavy penalties.

Some tips to protect firearms and ammunition while you are away from home include:

If you have trigger locks, leave them on while you aren’t using firearms.

Remove bolts from rifles and keep them with you.

Use gun slips or lockable cases if you have them.

Leave your firearms and ammunition in your locked car rather than in a tent or motel room.

Make sure firearms and ammunition are hidden from public view in your car at all times.

Police said some other tips for keeping firearms safe include using different keys to lock away firearms and ammunition; be careful about what you post online in showing people that you are away from home.