No Cause for Alarm: Tasmania Police Strike Again

After their efforts earlier in the year with an attempt at passing Military Appearance Clauses, Tasmania Police have again tried to force more unsubstantiated, non-evidenced based firearm regulations.

Their target this time – handgun licence holders.

The draft regulations from the Tasmanian Firearm Review were released. Not much has really changed except the storage regulations. Now firearm safes have to have two bolts in the wall and floor as well as changes concerning ammunition and gun powder storage, for no apparent reason other than the public services’ favourite catch cry of “public safety.”

The reality is – if someone really wants to get in to the safe, they will get in. They will simply cut the safe out of the floor or wall which is not hard to do at all and take the safe, which my neighbour had the pleasure of coming home to one day with a couple of holes in his wall and floor and a 10+ firearm safe missing.

However, the standout: Category H Licence holders will need to fit their premises with an alarm system. Yes, it’s that ridiculous.

As usual, none of these proposals are substantiated by any evidence that they would actually be effective or necessary – they aren’t.

The section in question:

This is in complete contradiction to what the recently concluded WA Firearms Review found particularly in regards to storage in remote areas:

 

However, the WA Firearms Review gets even more interesting as it explicitly mentions Tasmania, leading us to believe there is obviously more than meets the eye on collusion. Gotta love how it talks about it as a foregone conclusion:

It continues:

It’s concurs with what the Federal Senate Inquiry said last year on this very topic:

So there you have it, both another Police jurisdiction and a Federal Senate Inquiry saying it is a completely pointless exercise.

Can Tasmania Police guarantee response times particularly to rural properties that are hours from Police? No, they can’t. Are criminals going to be deterred by alarm systems or an extra bolt in the wall? Nope. Are they even going to bother stealing from licence holders when they can just import them or make them themselves and will the new regulations impact the illegal market? Of course not.

We can also see the obvious benefit the “free of corruption” security industry will bring having the locations of firearm licence holders as well as potential access. Not to mention there is possibly a security company or two looking to make a quick buck out of any tenders or contracts for a few thousand pistol shooters. Perhaps the infamous former Tasmania Police Sergeant Michael Charles Dyson is looking to get back into the security game after his business collapsed?

This proposal also just validates the absolute uselessness of the Firearms Registry. It’s not enough to keep them registered apparently, they now have to be monitored 24/7.

Who is influencing these recommendations? Well, take your pick from the usual faceless advisory bureaucrats, to the Hobart based Vice President of Gun Control Australia Roland Browne, to hoplophobe extraodinaire and Tasmania Police Association President Pat Allen and any number of state based Greens MP’s, namely Rosalie Woodruff who previously had a go at banning the Adler.

What this really is however, is a pointless exercise in invented excuse authoritarianism that we’re all familiar with. Hegelian Dialect and all that. It’s also a submarine attempt at chipping away at firearms culture and rights by making them more expensive and less accessible to the average person especially those in rental properties, both in the short term and the long term. And in Tasmania with high unemployment and low wages, it’s the perfect excuse for them to try it. They always play the long game.

So then, what can be done? Plenty. And if you think this isn’t precedent for the mainland or won’t affect any other states, I have a bridge in Sydney to sell you. Public comment is sought at the below details until 21st December 2016. It doesn’t matter if it’s five lines or five pages. It needs to be heard.

Get to it:

Legislation Development & Review Services

Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management

GPO Box 308

Hobart, Tasmania, 7001

or alternatively can be submitted by email to: strategy.support@dpfem.tas.gov.au