Criminology Research Council grant ; (9/85)
This report is based upon research carried out over a two-year period into the administration of the firearms laws in each state and internal territory of Australia. Interviews were conducted Australia-wide, with police, officers of firearms user organisations, and members of numerous other segments of the community.
The costs of current Australian practices and policies were evaluated in terms of their effectiveness in attaining the goal of reducing, so far as is reasonably possible, both the criminal and the accidental misuse of firearms.
The report also highlights the extent to which the weaknesses in firearms laws of certain States undermine the firearms laws of the other States and Territories.
Certain measures were advocated which would entail a fundamental change from present policies of many States and territories. These include the following:
- rationalisation of the criteria applied to individuals seeking all types of firearms, for any purposes;
- adoption of specific and meaningful safe keeping requirements for all privately owned firearms;
- introduction of community-based instruction in firearms safety for licence applicants;
- abandonment of the concept of registration of each field and shotgun in the community, due to its inordinate cost and its failure to benefit the police or the community;
- assignment of responsibility for administering firearms laws to a small, special-purpose agency in each State;
- introduction Australia-wide of broadly representative Firearms Consultative Committees, with both appellate and policy-formulating roles; and
- reciprocal recognition of firearms licences throughout the States and territories of Australia.
Also see: Gun laws: proposals for reform/ J. David Fine. Federation Press 1988 ISBN 9781862870161