In OZ we have had strong restrictions on handgun ownership since the 1920s but even in the current anti-gun era there are three classes of people with handguns, security based personel (police, security guards etc ...), oriental drug dealers and persons of "Middle Eastern Appearance" with ambitions of terrorist activities. Just recently there was a scam exposed where a number of such persons were importing hand gun as parts and assembling them here. They were based in a suburban Sydney post office. Fortunately our Federal Police don't mess around, they catch them, drag them through court and stick them in the "boob" for eternity.
You are not including rural areas where people carry rifles and ammunition behind their utility seat? Case in point, there was a utitilty (Hilux) stolen from Sydney that a rural person had used for shooting the night before. His rifle and approx 200 rounds of .303 ammunition were stolen along with the utility, it was recovered the next day along with the gun and ammunition but it could have ended a lot worse...
Or another rural based case:
Teen charged after guns, ammunition, alcohol stolen Save
June 28, 2012, 12:15 a.m.
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AN ILLABO teenager has been charged after a caravan was broken into and rifles, ammunition, alcohol and movies were stolen.
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Police allege the 17-year-old boy went to a Gregory’s Lane, Illabo property and forced his way into a caravan in a shearing shed during the night of June 25.
Two .22 rifles, ammunition for the firearms, two bottles of Jack Daniels whiskey and a number of DVDs were taken during the break-in, police allege.
According to police, the teenager set up a number of targets around his property and used the rifles to fire a number of rounds at them.
The boy was arrested at his home at 11.50pm last night and the guns, ammunition and some of the alcohol were recovered by police.
He was taken to Wagga police station and charged with break, enter and steal. The boy was granted conditional bail will face Wagga Children’s Court on August 14.
Although licensing and permits have tightened since Port Arthur, there are still plenty of people with firearms who should not have them and this is illustrated by cases such as this. The owner will complain that people shouldn't have stolen their weaponry but if they did what they were supposed to it wouldn't happen in the first place, rural people seem to be the most lax when it comes to gun control and safe practices (i live rurally, i'm not pointing the finger from the city).
1. Store firearms in safe, lockable place such as a proper gun safe or at a clubs safe.
2. Do not store firing pin/mechanism with firearms.
3. Do not keep ammunition out in the open, lock it up also, separate from the firearm.
These three things will not totally prevent it from happening but unless the perpetrator already knows where everything is, they now have the challenge of completing the firearms and sourcing ammunition before it can be used as a firearm.
HR,
Ghandi