quote:
Originally posted by Chris B.:
That is really sad! Are you guys allowed to own any type of guns? Any hand guns, Shotguns, rifels?
I hear conflicting stories on this.
Chris,
after Port Arthur, John Howard (very quickly, I might add...almost like it was legislation waiting for an opportunity) brought in the new gun laws.
All semi-auto longarms are illegal. All pump action shotguns are illegal. Bolts and lever actions are acceptable, as are pump rifles.
I've got a handful of good quality .22s (Krico and Brno), a .223 bolt (CZ527), and a .44Mag Browning Lever.
To keep them, I MUST be the member of an accredited club, and have a legal obligation to attend 4 shoots per year....no great dramas there.
Safe storage, once again is reasonably common sense, it must be a secure container, bolted to the structure of the house, bolt and ammo kept separately.
I'm annoyed that the Police have search rights without a warrant (you must provide access if they want to see your set-up).
There have been some sad cases with this. Cop knocks on the door, guy has been to the range and is having a beer while cleaning his rifles.....instantly confiscated, and a $10k fine for consuming alcohol while being in control of a firearm. Another few cases have involved knocking on the door while the guy is at work. Wife shows the safe storage to the Police. They than ask to see the firearms, she obliges, they are confiscated, and $10k fine. If she knows where the keys are, then he has left them in the control of an unlicenced person.
As to pistols, there is no allowance to own a firearm for self defence in our legislation, so it is target competition only (except if you are media magnate Kerry Packer, who somehow is licenced to have a pistol in his top desk drawer). They've recently banned pistols over "38 calibre".
