08-10-2017, 12:09
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Citat:Las Vegas massacre prompts call to shooters not to store guns at home
Stephen Drill and Annika Smethurst, Herald Sun
October 7, 2017 10:00am
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DOCTORS have called on sports shooters to store weapons at gun clubs instead of in their homes.
The Australian Medical Association has called on politicians to again overhaul gun laws and show the leadership former prime minister John Howard did in the wake of the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.
The Sunday Herald Sun understands that authorities have considered gun club storage to stop criminals stealing guns from homes.
Australian Medical Association president Dr Michael Gannon. Picture: Ray Strange
The call comes just days after the Las Vegas shooting, where crazed Stephen Paddock used automatic weapons to kill 59 concertgoers and injure more than 500.
AMA president Michael Gannon said gun clubs were the safest place to store guns.
“Farmers should be storing weapons securely on their property, but there’s no reason a sporting shooter in a metropolitan area needs to keep a gun at home,” he said. “We’re not calling on a ban, but for the appropriate use of firearms.”
The Alannah & Madeline Foundation, set up to honour three victims of Port Arthur, said taking guns out of the home would improve safety.
Alannah and Madeline Foundation chief executive Lesley Podesta. Picture: Mark Stewart
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Chief executive Lesley Podesta said: “We have let individuals stockpile huge numbers of firearms in suburban areas ... storing firearms at gun clubs makes sense. There is an increased risk in homes.”
But she said there was also a risk that gun clubs could become targets for crooks.
A real-time national gun register, proposed after Martin Bryant killed 35 people at Port Arthur, was still not operating and Ms Podesta said she was “at a loss” as to why.
Justice Minister Michael Keenan said information was being migrated to the new Australian Firearms Information Network. But government sources said the register would not be operational until late next year.
Police Minister Lisa Neville and Superintendent Paul Millett. Picture: Jake Nowakowski
Police Minister Lisa Neville said: “One of our key priorities is to ensure that we clamp down on the black market, which too often puts guns in the hands of criminals.”
Sport Shooters Association of Australia spokeswoman Kate Fantinel said putting guns at clubs was impractical.
“Gun clubs would essentially become a supermarket for guns,” she said. “There are already checks and balances in place and gun owners are licenced by the police.”
She added that such a move would put too great a workload on gun club volunteers.