Effort to cut gun law red tape

Image: David Gibson inspects Ron Owen's gun vault, where guns bought up to two years ago are still waiting for police to complete licensing paperwork Source; Gympie Times

The State Member for Gympie has highlighted some of the stupidity of the current gun laws.  The paperwork and long drawn out registration process results in waits of up to two years from the time of purchase, to being able to pick up your new gun: 

LEGITIMATE gun owners and public safety were the victims of a dysfunctional gun licensing and registration system, Gympie MP David Gibson said.  He said Queensland's gun laws, introduced by the Beattie Labor Government, were "at best, inefficient" and were "misdirected at law abiding firearm owners". 

Mr Gibson said the cumbersome paperwork associated with legitimate gun ownership had very little public benefit, as criminal groups continued to trade in illegal firearms and used them with tragic consequences. 

He foreshadowed changes to the Weapons Act to reduce paperwork for legitimate gun owners and increase penalties for illegal firearms possession and use. 

Gympie gun dealer Ron Owen backed plans to make gun ownership more manageable for legitimate primary producers and sporting shooters. 

Mr Gibson visited Mr Owen's shop on Thursday, where he inspected a vault with guns (mostly sports rifles), which had been sold and paid for but awaited paperwork to be completed by police.  "Some of them have been waiting here for two years," Mr Owen said. 

"The police can't keep up with the paperwork either. They've got so many documents, they don't know what's going on.  "It's a failure of the system.  "Since it came in 15 years ago, we've generated 68,000 records; whereas, really, there should be just one in and one out. …

Some of these delays could also be due to police holding back and delaying the process.  Many of them have an obsession with the idea that guns in the hands of law abiding people will turn them into homicidal maniacs, determined to wipe out the police force.

Gun laws need to be eased off to the point where law-abiding shooters have no trouble getting hold of firearms for whatever purpose they want them.  Current laws have had little if any impact on crime statistics, and have failed to keep guns out of the hands of criminal elements.  The only people affected are the law-abiding elements of society who are not the problem anyway.