SSAA NSW

8 Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW) Inc. Many readers would be aware of the recent situation that took place on a property in the Albury area of New South Wales, where a licensed firearms owner removed his rifle from his safe due to an armed intruder at his premises during the early hours of the morning. As a result of acting on their behalf, a number of people have asked me if I could provide more information about what happened and why the Police acted in suspending the property owner's firearms licence and placing a special condition on his wife's licence. About 3am on 14 September 2017, the property owner was asleep at home where he lives with his wife and three young children. He was awoken by his dogs barking. He heard a knock on the back door and switched the porch light on. He then saw a young man standing at his back door and saw he was holding a knife in his left hand which was tucked up against his forearm and a large piece of wood in his right. The property owner then went to his gun safe and removed his .22 rifle. He did not load the rifle. Whilst this was happening, the property owner's wife was calling 000 for the Police. He walked out the back door to where the man was standing on the lawn. He did not point the rifle at the man at any time. The man was no longer holding the piece of wood and when the man saw the rifle, he threw the knife onto the lawn. The property owner told the man he would give him a lift away from the property and took him to his car. As they were travelling off the property, the property owner noticed the man to erratic in his conversation. It was later confirmed by Police the man was an ICE addict and was most likely under the influence of the drug at the time. Again, whilst in the car, the unloaded rifle was never pointed at the man. Police attended the address a short time later and the man was arrested. Following the arrest of the man, the Police returned to the property owner's house and were shown the knife and piece of wood. The property owner told the Police what had happened, including why he had removed his rifle from its safe. It was at this point in time the Police advised him they would be suspending his firearms licence and seizing his firearms whilst they investigated his actions further. Naturally, the property owner was not impressed with this Police action. It is normal Police practice, in circumstances where they are investigating a matter that involves a firearm, for them to suspend a firearms licence and seize the firearms of a person under investigation. The investigation was undertaken by Albury Detectives and on 28 September 2017, I was advised by their Detective Inspector that no charges would be laid against the property owner. In terms of normal investigative practice, this was a relatively quick turnaround for the investigation to be conducted and completed. However, regarding the suspension of his firearms licence; that decision fell to the NSW Police Firearms Registry and not the local Police. It was expected that the decision regarding the suspension would be made relatively quickly, given the decision not to charge the property owner with any offences, but that was not to be. On 3 October 2017, the property owner's wife was served with a notice from the Firearms Registry placing a Special Condition on her firearms licence, prohibiting her from storing or possessing firearms at their residential address or any location where her husband lived or frequented. The reasons given for this decision were simply that "Police have expressed concerns with firearms being stored at your address…" In my view, this was a complete overreaction by the Firearms Registry and was totally unnecessary. An Internal Review request was immediately made to the Registry seeking to have this decision set aside. On 5 October 2017, the property owner was sent a letter from the Firearms Registry asking him to show cause why his firearms licence should not be revoked. Given the local Police had decided no charges should be laid against him I am again of the view that it was unnecessary for such letter to be sent. The Registry had all the information from the local Police investigation sent to them. On 10 October 2017, I was contacted by telephone from the Registry and advised that they wanted to conduct a further interview with the property owner. This request was declined and they were advised they already had two statements from the property owner, a statement from his wife and the advice from the local Police regarding their investigation. They had more than enough information to make their decision without any further interviewing of the property owner. On 17 October 2017, the Firearms Registry lifted the Special Condition on the property owner's wife's firearms licence. No reasons were given for the lifting of the Special Condition. On 24 October 2017, the Firearms Registry lifted the suspension of the property owner's firearms licence and he was able to take back possession of his firearms. No reasons were given for the lifting of the suspension. The suspending of the property owner's firearms licence, whilst obviously annoying for him and to many people appearing unfair, is standard Police procedure for Ask Stephen Legal Matters

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