Anna got re-elected in Queensland (and big props to Ms. Anti-gun Jackie Trad who was quite appropriately ejected from Parliament). Also re-elected is the rapidly growing waistline that is Mark Ryan, Labor’s Police Minister. Now the horror begins.
A surprise Queensland Audit Office report says that Weapons Licensing should revoke tens of thousands of firearms licenses from ordinary people who know low-level criminals or who have made an honest mistake. How confident are you that none of your associates have criminal records in the past? How confident are you that you don’t have a tiny .22LR round left in the car somewhere?
Should your firearms license be revoked because there was a spare round of .22LR ammunition rolling around in your car boot? Should it be revoked because your brother has a marijuana conviction?
Like every good political story, there’s a history to this. We scratch the surface.
Audit Fishing Expedition
Queensland’s Auditor-General, Brendan Worrall, has embarked on a public safety fishing expedition. We don’t yet know who sent Brendan on this trip but you can bet your house we’ll find out. Brendan’s office has examined a tiny fraction of Weapons Licensing interactions (less than 300 recorded in their report) and come up with some stunningly big recommendations for public safety! He says we should change the law. And revoke some of your licenses.
None of the recommendations deal with the massive waiting times with WLB. The report doesn’t mention most people are waiting 45+ days for a license renewal. The Auditor-General doesn’t give an ink. The farmers and pest controllers who had to wait 180+ days for a firearm license or permit to acquire don’t matter to Brendan. They don’t get an audience. The lost crops, the rural destruction just are not something he gives one stroke (of ink) about.
The only thing in Brendan’s report is “public safety”. So much so, that he openly suggests law changes that have absolutely nothing to do with public safety.
It’s almost like his staff were channelling the political corpse of Jackie Trad in writing the audit report. Let’s spend a moment imagining Jackie as ghost. I’ve re-hid the key to my gun safe and I’m now wearing a garlic necklace.
Revoke licenses
Amongst other things, the report recommends the Weapons Act be amended so that minor infractions mean a license loss for five years. The recommendations also seek to make your fitness to hold a firearms license contingent on your family and friends.
One Assistant Commissioner in Queensland Police Service, who we can’t name for legal reasons, has forcefully proposed to the Queensland Police Minister, Mark Ryan, that people with any criminal history in their family should be automatically disqualified under the proposed amendments to the Weapons Act 1990. Also, as the report states, any offence involving weapons (eg ammo storage) would disqualify you even where you weren’t convicted because the issue was trivial.
The bureaucratic march to remove your license on the basis of trivial conduct and ideas has begun.
Have you expressed any ideas against the Chinese Belt and Road agreement with Victoria? Wait to have your license revoked. You’re probably right in your ideas, but you’re a national security concern. Even as China posts fake pics of Australian servicemen.
We’re used to critics: Like every time before, they’ll post on social media saying this is nonsense. Only to have to deal with it in reality 4-12 weeks later. Firearms Owners United said DV as the basis of gun shop closures during Covid was nonsense. The State Government published documents showing that gun shops were closed ostensibly to prevent domestic violence.
Thought speech
The final element of the report, involves widening the criteria to disqualify license holders on a more comprehensive set of criteria. Before leaving you a link to the report, we quote a man Russia imprisoned for very simple ideas you have the luxury of living today.
“You can be sincere and still be stupid.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky
Read the Queensland Auditor General’s report here.
Email Mark Ryan: police@ministerial.qld.gov.au
And tell him what’s wrong