Australia has spent over $2Bn on firearms registries since 1996 (not including the 1996 firearms buyback). 2018 was chock full of colossal firearms registry blunders. The blunders:
- Illustrate what a waste of money our incompetent firearms registries are,
- Show how the registries are just pushing paper around and NOT SOLVING crimes.
Let’s look at the worst of 2018 – from the utterly laughable to the most deadly serious.
#7 Qld Weapons Licensing stop answering phones on Wednesday
In the interests of improving customer service, Queensland Weapons Licensing stopped answering the phones on Wednesdays! (Click here for the full story).
#6 Tas Police registry manager replaced with a civilian
The Tasmanian firearms registry had become so moribund and dysfunctional that the Tasmanian Police Minister did away with the police manager and installed a civilian manager instead. Lesson here for other States? (Click here for the wider Tasmanian story.)
#5 Qld Weapons Licensing proposal for Australia Post to maintain registry
Queensland Police Service refused to release documents about the proposal for Australia Post to maintain Queensland’s firearms registry. Australia Post has a scandalous history of losing private data. (Click here for the full story.)
#4 Qld Weapons Licensing give Qld Tribunal a picture of the wrong gun!
In their quest to ban the Wedgetail WT15-01 pistol, Queensland Weapons Licensing gave the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal a picture of the wrong gun! (Click here for the full story.)
Here’s the extract from Weapons Licensing submissions:
That’s just not a WT15-01. As far as we can recall, misleading the Tribunal is an offence.
#3 Qld Farmers are winning on suppressors and pistols in QCAT
Despite irrational opposition by Weapons Licensing, Queensland farmers are winning the battle to keep their pistols. They are also getting access to suppressors! (Click here for the full story.)
#2 Qld Police pretend collectors’ guns are a major organised crime bust
An aging firearms collector in Western Queensland became unwell and surrendered his firearms to Queensland Police. The cynical media operation in Queensland Police and the Labor Police Minister’s office contrived to present those firearms to the media as a major bust from organised crime. This behaviour is typical of how Queensland Labor and the Queensland Police manage dumb, power-worshipping journalists (as often found at ABC, Fairfax and The Brisbane Times). (Click here for the full story.)
#1 John Edwards’ double-murder-suicide enabled by NSW registry
John Edwards was not eligible to hold a firearms license, let alone a pistol license. The NSW registry gave him a special exemption to own pistols despite his violent history. No one can explain why this happened, but the media were very quick to portray Edwards as a law-abiding shooter and blame his pistol club. The pistol clubs didn’t want him to have a license. Three people are dead who would normally have been protected by Australia’s firearms licensing system. (Click here for the full, sickening story.)
Conclusion: the registries are a mess
Mainstream politicians, a large chunk of the media and the firearms registries have a symbiotic relationship. They make all guns sound bad and vilify all licensed shooters, even licensed shooters commit virtually no crime. Hardened crooks are the ones committing all the crime – and they can’t have a firearms license.
Be polite, but never hesitate to call out this sick sad relationship and just how pointless and incompetent the registries are.