A DOUBLING OF gun theft in Victoria in the past five years means the community needs to take a hard look about firearms safety and storage, says a top police officer.
Crime Statistics Agency figures showed there were 388 firearms, accessories or munitions stolen, in the west of the state alone, in the 12 months up to September last year.
Between 2010 and December last year, the Crime Statistics Agency reported 4362 firearms (including accessories and munitions) were reported stolen in Victoria; only 97, or 2.2 per cent had been recovered.
Western regional operational support division superintendent Craig Gillard said figures showed there had been a doubling of gun theft in Victoria, in the past five years.
Any time firearms fell into the hands of unlicenced people, it was a matter of grave concern. It was time to have an open and frank discussion with all stakeholders who used firearms about storage requirements, Superintendent Gillard said.
"There have been a number of incidents where firearms have been legally owned, legally and correctly stored on a premises which is uninhabited.
"Does the community consider it fair and reasonable to leave firearms unprotected?
"While a safe is strong enough and good enough, I have seen them ripped out of walls and cut open with angle grinders."
"You leave a dog or a cat at a boarding kennel, when you go away, so why would you leave your guns in the house?"
He suggested gun owners should leave guns with a registered dealer, or other licence holder, when they were away from the property.
At its Melbourne hearing late last year, Victoria Police's detective superintendent Peter de Santo told the inquiry there had been a significant increase in the burglaries of registered firearms owners' homes or farms in the western half of the State.
NSW Police told the inquiry firearm thefts in rural areas could be attributed to a number of factors including attitudes toward firearms, storage and geographic isolation
"In some areas of Australia, of course, the attitude to gun ownership and security of guns is different from the attitude of people in metropolitan Sydney, for example," detective chief superintendent Ken Finch said.
"I understand, having lived and worked in rural areas in NSW, the reasons for that.
"That does not mean, however, that the storage requirements should be any less in those areas."
– ANDREW MILLER
