Stolen weapons among firearms handed in under national amnesty

Dozens of firearms previously reported stolen are among the dangerous weapons surrendered in Queensland under the National Firearm Amnesty.

Another 1618 of the 5252 firearms so far received by police were unregistered.

The three-month National Firearm Amnesty, which ends on September 30, has provided gun keepers a rare opportunity to legally dispose of or register a firearm without penalty.

Police Minister Mark Ryan said during the first two months of the Amnesty, 26 firearms had been handed in that had previously been reported stolen.

“That is a significant number of firearms and the State Crime Command is now conducting further inquiries into those stolen weapons,” Minister Ryan said.

“We cannot emphasis enough how important it is for registered firearm owners to secure their weapons to prevent them being stolen and used for illegal purposes.

“We acknowledge that the vast majority of firearm owners in Queensland are responsible but it only takes one mistake for a gun to fall into the wrong hands and for a tragedy to happen.”

The National Firearms Amnesty is a result of COAG’s Law, Crime and Community Safety Council meeting last year which agreed to a number of measures to deal with illegal firearms.

One of the more unusual firearms surrendered was a pocket revolver handed in to the Fortitude Valley Police Station by an older gentleman who said it belonged to his grandfather.

“The gentleman said he wasn’t really a gun person and wanted to hand it in so that it could possibly be forwarded to a museum,” Minister Ryan said.

“One of our officers did some research and it appears it is a 7mm pin file action two shot revolver that may have been made in Belgium between 1860 and 1890.

“It is an interesting piece and I want to thank that gentleman for doing the right thing and handing it in.”

A breakdown of the 5252 firearms surrendered by Category are:

Category A                          3427

Category B                          1296

Category C                            190

Category D                              74

Category H                            233

Category M & E                       27

Category R                                5

Anyone wanting to surrender a firearm has until September 30, preferably at their local firearms dealer, rather than a police station.

Queensland Police advise persons surrendering firearms to first contact the dealer and then proceed directly to the dealer.

A person may attend a police station only where it is impractical to attend a local firearms dealer and only after first contacting that police station to make an appointment.

ENDS

Media Contact: Sue Lappeman 0418 792 406