A SENIOR VICTORIAN police commander has reiterated the need for secure storage of firearms, after it was revealed a gun is seized every two days in north and western Melbourne.
Victoria police have previously said rural properties were being targeted for gun theft, with many of these stolen weapons turning up in the 'red zone' of Melbourne's north west metro region.
North West Metro Region acting Commander Mick Hermans said it was clear the region was a hot-spot for gun related crime.
“Because of the population density and socio-economic disadvantage, it will have the largest incidence of firearm related crime,” acting Commander Hermans said.
“Country properties may be targeted, because of the high likelihood there may be a gun there.”
“It’s also possible that, in the course of an unrelated burglary, a firearm safe is located and action is taken to steal it – people who own firearms, and are known to own them, should be aware there is the potential they will be targeted by criminals.”
“The most basic precaution to take is to abide by requirements of being a licence holder - in fact we find the overwhelming majority of licenced gun owners do so, we know that to be a fact.
But Commander Hermans said owners needed to be vigilant in other areas, as well.
“Don’t fall into the trap of having a safe with secured firearms, in adherence to all your obligations, but leave the key in a location that can be easily be found.”
The latest figures from the Victorian Crime Statistics Agency showed 386 firearms were stolen from Western Victoria, between April 2014 and March 2015.
This was a slight increase on the 349 firearms, stolen in the previous 12 months,
This compared with 225 firearms for the North West metropolitan police region, 267 for the East of the state and 107 for Southern Melbourne.
A total of nearly 1000 firearms were stolen in Victoria, between April and March.
Acting commander Hermans said while recovery rates were low, recent reports of police seizing firearms every second day in north and western Melbourne showed the police were succeeding in taking guns off the streets.
The head of a Senate inquiry into illegal firearms, Senator Penny Wright, said law enforcement authorities needed more resources to tackle gun crime.
"Gun violence needs to be addressed from every angle,” Senator Wright said.
“We have to look at ways to stop illegal importation, but with no tightening of laws towards licensed firearm owners, also how we can stop the concerning flow of licensed weapons to the illicit market ?"
The inquiry found a lack of quality data and national inconsistencies were hampering efforts to understand the black market.
"There are around 260,000 illegal guns in Australia, and as a committee we accepted this is probably a conservative estimate," Senator Wright said.
"It was staggering how little accurate data there is about the illicit firearms market in Australia and how many barriers and inconsistencies there are between different governments.”
"If we're serious about addressing gun crime in Australia and reducing the number of illegal firearms, all governments need to work together and all the agencies should be talking the same language."
The Coalition co-sponsored a dissenting inquiry report with LDP Senator David Leyonhjelm, which disputed the success of the Howard-era gun buyback policy and recommended further deregulation of the firearm industry.
Police association secretary Ron Iddles said it was extremely concerning an illegal firearm is being found by police every two days, in some parts of the state.
“These firearms are typically either stolen or imported illegally,” Detective Sergeant Iddles said.
“To combat this worrying trend, I believe the government should be to legislating to introduce substantially harsher penalties for those who either steal or find themselves in possession of illegal or unregistered firearm.
“I welcome the fact that the Police Minister has come out and foreshadowed such a course of action”,” he said.
The Shooters and Fishers Party Victoria supported the government and police crackdown on illegal firearms.
Party MP’s Jeff Bourman and Daniel Young said figures on the number of firearms being seized, demonstrated the criminal element was not hearing the message that society would not tolerate the illegal use of firearms for criminal purposes.
They reminded the government, police and the community that law abiding firearms owners were not the problem and should not be penalised for the actions of criminals.
