South Australian police say processing times for shooters’ applications will be reduced, but the shooting industry fears change might come too late to avoid crippling losses and possible bankruptcies caused by the ongoing backlog that has slowed gun purchases and licence approvals.
The South Australia Firearms Registry’s own figures show that it is taking nearly six months to renew a licence and more than a month to process permits to acquire.
However, Shooters Union has been involved in what it describes as “very productive discussions with SAPOL which were already bringing positive results”.
“SAPOL have told us they have hired at least four new staff to speed up processing, and while the delays will take a bit longer as those people are trained, they’ll be up to speed very soon and then we expect processing times to come right back down again,” Shooters Union SA president Peter Heggie said.
“Another significant change is they are giving serious consideration to adjusting their system so that permits to acquire can be applied for before a firearm has arrived at a dealer.
“Under the new system, as soon as the gun is ordered, the buyer can put in their permit application, meaning by the time the gun arrives the permit will either have been issued or won’t be too far away.”
These mooted changes can’t come fast enough for the beleaguered industry and the shooters who have found themselves in a bureaucratic limbo as they wait for licences and firearms.
Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia (SIFA) CEO James Walsh said firearm dealers in SA were sitting on hundreds of thousands of dollars in inventory because permits to acquire weren’t being processed in a fair timeframe, with severe and devastating consequences for their businesses.
Some dealers are approaching the limits of their business overdrafts, facing the potential of business closures if these issues are not quickly resolved, according to SIFA.
One business can no longer order additional stock because its secure armoury is at full capacity due to the slow PTA processing timeframes.
“This is not just bad service; this is killing small businesses across the state,” Mr Walsh said.
Mr Walsh said SIFA had written to SA Police Minister Stephen Mullighan and Police Commissioner Grant Stevens, calling for urgent action to resolve the situation, but had yet to receive a formal response.
“South Australian firearms dealers aren’t asking for special treatment, they are just asking for basic levels of service, accountability and competence from the regulator,” Mr Walsh said.
Heggie agreed the delays were causing chaos among the shooting community in the state.
“It’s very frustrating for shooters waiting a long time for guns they’ve ordered or put a deposit on, especially if they need them for their farm or pest control reasons, m” he said.
“Every day that rifle is stuck at the dealer because of a missing permit is another day that foxes or rabbits or pigs can keep causing havoc on their property.”
He said the slow timeframes to process licence applications and renewals were unacceptable as well – especially for renewals, which should essentially be a tick-and-flick exercise.
“Can you imagine the chaos if the Department of Transport were taking five months to process driver’s licence renewals, or seven months for new licence applications?
“Shooters and the firearm industry deserve answers,” he said.
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