NT police have threatened to prosecute shooters who fail to self-audit their firearms for the territory’s registry, as police scramble to get the registry’s data before missing out on a $4.5 million funding bonus.
The shooting industry has branded it “just not good enough”.
Shooters in the Territory received emails demanding they take five photos of each firearm they own and submit them to police in a self-audit process which NT police have deemed mandatory under s91 and s96A of the Firearms Act 1997 – and threatening that non-compliance will be treated as a breach and expose the person to penalties including potential jail time.
Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia (SIFA) research suggests the NT Police registry upgrade is linked to $4.5 million in Commonwealth funding as part of the National Firearms Register (NFR) project.
Under the Federal Funding Agreement for the NFR project, NT police must demonstrate “data uplift” projects as well as evidence of efforts to deliver an “uplifted registry and portal” to receive the Commonwealth funds.
The NT firearms registry appears to be a mess, and SIFA CEO James Walsh said shooters were being forced to do NT Police’s admin work to fix the problem.
“Everything we’ve seen leads us to believe the NT firearms register is all over the place, and as a result, the NT police have decided to make law abiding shooters do the work to fix up their mess, under threat of criminal charges for non-compliance,” he said.
“It’s just not good enough.”
SIFA have expressed concerns that the NT’s project appears to be rushed through in an effort to meet project milestones to secure federal funding rather than being transparent, consultative and designed with easy compliance in mind.
“We will not accept a non-transparent roll-out that is rushed, or where the police offload their responsibilities onto licensed shooters and dealers by force, making them the scapegoat for poorly maintained registry data,” Mr Walsh said.
“We will continue to demand answers and accountability as shooters and businesses deserve transparency, respect and a system that works for them, not against them.”
Shooters Union Australia president Graham Park has previously raised alarm about the NT project, saying it set off alarms about what might be on the cards as other states and territories started bringing their registries in line with the National Firearms Registry.
“As the shooting industry, we get told the NFR is supposed to be a way of getting all the state firearms registries to talk to each other effectively, but it’s clear that something with much further reach is planned, and it’s not going to benefit responsible firearms users,” he said.
He also said this over-reach was exactly what Shooters Union was afraid of, and the various state and territory firearms registries were so hopelessly inaccurate that it was unlikely to be possible to fix them.
“We have said for years that the solution is to do away with individual firearms registration, and stick to licensing the person, as New Zealand and Canada do.
“It’s much easier to keep track of, costs a lot less, and still ensures public safety by making sure only fit and proper people have access to guns,” he said.
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