WA gun law reform: Mid West situation unclear following the release of concerning Perth gun figures

The planned overhaul of the State’s firearm laws has been met with support from many in the Mid West shooting community. The current Firearms Act dates back to 1974 and it will be the first time in 49 years that the law has been reformed. Figures provided this week from the WA Police database showed the extent of gun ownership across the State . However, the situation in the Mid West is less clear. A map released by police to The West Australian showed the location of every firearm in Perth and the South West. The map of dots also showed a high concentration in and around Geraldton. The number of licensed guns in WA has risen from 218,765 in 2009 to 349,492 in January this year — an increase of 60 per cent in 13 years. Under the new Act, “community safety” will be elevated, giving police the power to refuse an application on those grounds and revoke gun licenses from people deemed to be “not fit and proper”. The proposed reforms also include strengthened training requirements, giving police the power to take guns from those convicted of serious domestic violence and enhanced security and storage rules. President of the Geraldton Greenough Rifle Club and firearms dealer, Ashley Norwood, said he agreed with these changes. “Anything to do with domestic violence should be acted on straight away, if anyone gets a restraining order on them the firearm should be collected by the police, it’s public safety,” he said. Mr Norwood did not believe these changes would have an impact on responsible gun owners. “No, because we get a licence at the moment, and we have to provide that we have no criminal record, right? So, we have to tell them and they do a police check on us. Where you are and what you’ve done, misdemeanours and whatever,” he said. “If you lie on your application, they can tell that you’re lying because they can go back through records that a standard person can’t get hold of.’ Under the new laws, reloading of ammunition and self-repairing of firearms would be prohibited. “That’s going to make things very awkward for a lot of people who compete at high levels. Also, for farmers licensed with a firearm, they will reload through their own ammunition or rifles, but if they’re going to say you can’t do that, that makes it very difficult,” Mr Norwood said. As a firearms dealer, Mr Norwood was worried about the impact it could have on his business. “They can say they’re going to change things but hang on, that has got ramifications that could affect my livelihood and I’ve been in the trade for 25 years,” he said. He said the WA Government needed to be more clear in what these proposed reforms would involve. “They have to outline what they want to do exactly, they say they want to reform in some areas but they haven’t told us exactly where,” he said. “It would be OK if they put out a proposed outline of what they want to do and then put that to the shooting fraternity associations all over WA. “There is a meeting going to be held for particular people of clubs and dealers in Geraldton and throughout the State, early next month. We will probably hear a little bit more about what they want to do then.”