IF YOU have dad’s unregistered old shotgun out in the back shed gathering dust or a relic handgun that you picked up at a market – that still works – now is the time to hand them into police, without any consequences.

Unregistered and illegal firearms will be the focus of local police over the next three months, as the National Illicit Firearms campaign begins.

Hamilton Crime Investigation Unit’s Detective Sergeant Mark James, urged locals to surrender all unregistered firearms to police as part of the three-month Federal Government and Crime Stoppers campaign.

Det Sgt James said it was a good opportunity for people to surrender of illegal firearms in a safe way and with immunity from prosecution.

“It’s basically to get rid of unregistered and unrecorded firearms within the community,” he said.

“It’s a great opportunity to get those unwanted guns removed – for example if you’ve got granddad’s guns from the farm and nobody has a shooter’s licence, or they’re not registered and nobody wants to keep them.

“It doesn’t matter what type of gun it is, bring it in and we can get rid of it.

“You can bring them in to the police station and there will be no criminal sanctions during the amnesty.

“If police locate unregistered firearms in your possession, it is a criminal offence and you could be liable to be charged with possessing unregistered firearms, even if you do have a licence.

“If you do have guns that you want to keep that are family heirlooms or similar it’s a fairly simple process to obtain a firearms licence and you can take them into a licenced firearms dealer who can store them until you do.”

Det Sgt James said unregistered firearms posed a risk to the community and it was safer for all if they were correctly disposed of.

“Those guns sometimes fall into the wrong hands and then they are used in crimes or used by criminals,” he said.

“Generally, we find that unregistered firearms aren’t stored properly either, so they can be easily stolen or obtained by children and can be involved in tragic accidents where someone gets shot accidentally.

“They present a danger to other people and law enforcement.”

For anyone wanting to surrender unregistered firearms, Det Sgt Mr James said it was important to inform police before walking into the station with the guns. 

“If you’re going to bring firearms into the police station, leave them in your vehicle, enter the station and tell the officers you are dropping off firearms and they will come out to the vehicle and collect them,” he said.

“We need to perform a safety check on the guns and make sure they are not loaded.

“If you are unfamiliar with firearms, don’t fiddle around with it to see if it is loaded because that is how accidents and tragedies can occur.

“Also, if you’re not familiar with firearms, you can ring the police and we will come to your property and collect them from you.”

Det Sgt James said locals could also drop off registered firearms at any time and they would be correctly destroyed by police.

“People can bring in registered firearms too, once they’ve been brought in and put on our property system, they are not attached to the person anymore,” he said.

“People can drop off their guns at any time if they are registered … if you give them to the police we will take them somewhere to be destroyed so it won’t hurt anyone.”

Assistant Community Safety Minister, Jason Wood said the campaign would offer a range of community engagement and promotional events in regional and metropolitan communities across Australia and encourage people to share what they knew about illegal guns.

“This year’s National Illegal Firearms Campaign is part of an increased push to encourage owners of illegal, unregistered and unwanted firearms, parts and accessories to hand them in to be registered or destroyed,” Mr Wood said.

“With over 260,000 unregistered guns estimated to be in circulation in Australia, it is important for the community to step up and share information they know or suspect about an illegal gun.”

To share information about an unregistered or illegal gun, contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or go online at www.crimestoppers.com.au/illegalguns.

Further information, including the process to surrender a gun in each State or Territory, is available at www.crimestoppers.com.au/firearmamnesty.