Just one of the many
dangers in a natural
disaster is around the
security and whereabouts
of firearms.
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It is an unfortunate reality that the NSW community is becoming
more accustomed to preparing for natural emergency events
– bushre, ood, cyclone, storm – with many households having
their evacuation and disaster plans mapped out and ready to
operationalise at a minute's notice. These plans are key in
identifying who to contact, who to mobilise, what to take, and
when to leave. Sometimes these decisions must be made when
minutes or seconds can be the difference between being safe
or being stranded.
Just one of the many dangers in a natural disaster is around
the security and whereabouts of rearms. With the wide scale
destruction of property, rearms may be lost, damaged or
displaced. Unfortunately, and reprehensibly, following a natural
disaster, criminals take advantage of the confusion that ensues.
In January 2020, the Firearms Registry worked with local police
and the Rural Fire Service to identify, contact and assist customers
who had been affected by the bushres across NSW.
Where possible and necessary, we encouraged licence holders
to make alternate safe storage arrangements at police stations,
rearms dealers, or with another appropriate licence holder,
and to make the necessary notications to the Firearms Registry.
The Firearms Registry also made direct contact with peak
associations and the rearms dealer network to ask for a unied
approach to assist with licence holders, clubs and range facilities
that had been affected by the bushre disaster.
