QPOL Conducting Raids because of their paperwork errors.

It has come to our attention that Queensland Police at the behest of it’s Weapons Licensing Branch is executing search warrants based on nothing more then WLB’s own paperwork mistakes.

Originally a Qld license holder purchased a TOZ-17 .22lr bolt action rifle, he acquired a PTA for the firearm in early November 2019 and picked his new gun up shortly thereafter from a local Brisbane dealer.

Unfortunately he had some issues with the rifle, these would have been expensive to fix so he elected to just replace the rifle, using the convenience of a like for like swap as permitted by Qld law. So on Monday the 3rd of February he decided to take his Toz-17 down to a local Brisbane dealer and swap it for a TOZ-16. As the TOZ-16 is also a bolt action .22lr it qualifies for a like for like swap with no PTA being required.

However it quickly came to WLB’s attention, it would seem their system flagged the like-for-like transfer as in WLB’s system the license holder did not have a .22lr to conduct such a swap with. Apparently the paperwork for the like-for-like swap reached Weapons Licensing before the paperwork for the original acquisition did.

Weapons Licensing in a display of malevolent incompetence that seems to know no bounds, then decided that rather than check to see if there was an outstanding PTA issued to him for a .22lr, that instead they would just assume the following:

– The license holder never had a .22lr (in spite of them issuing a PTA for him to acquire just such a firearm) 
– That instead he had swapped an unregistered .22lr for a registered one (because there is someone stupid enough to want to swap their illegal gun for one registered to them)
– That the only appropriate outcome to that, would not be a phone call, letter or email to clarify the situation, that instead they had to conduct a full blown search warrant. 

With that all clearly decided in the evidently addled mind’s of WLB staff, they applied for a search warrant on the basis the licensee had an illegal firearm. With the warrant granted with a rubber stamp as all such warrants are, they executed the warrant on Tuesday the 11th. Amazing that when they want to, WLB can work extremely quickly and effectively.

A black van showed up, four SERT officers with balaclava and plate carriers piled out and proceeded to turn the house upside down. At the end of the search making their way to the gun safe where the owner pointed to them the paperwork for the original acquisition and like-for-like swap. The police proceeded to confiscate the rifle and relevant paperwork as evidence and left, leaving the license holder with a house turned upside down all because Weapons Licensing Branch is incapable of processing paperwork in a timely manner.

This situation is clearly ridiculous, executing search warrants on random license holders all on the basis of fairly obvious paperwork processing deficiencies is simply unacceptable. This is wasting valuable police resources and causes a massive intrusion into the life and privacy of someone who has fully complied with the law.