Thread: Firearms officer inspection after change of address

Hi all,

A quick question, what can an arms officer do, when inspecting firearms security after change of address.
In the past under the old rules, I have had arms officers want to see inside my safe and record details of firearms.

Curious to know, what they are legally allowed to do, and when they are making it up on the fly..

Thanks

Had mine last week looked at safe opened it then closed it. Checked mounted to wall and floor checked bolts and ammo. No recording or bs just a real nice guy .

Seems pretty similar to normal proceedings then- each one has their own interpretation of the laws etc.

They should not be asking for S/Ns "for your safety" or any other reasons, we don't have a register yet. Mine wasn't interested in S/Ns but asked me how many I had IN FRONT OF MY WIFE!

My last one they recorded the number of firearms but not serial ##

For my change of address inspection, nice young guy turned up on a Sunday, I showed him my safe. He told me he didn't want to see inside it, didn't want to know how many firearms were in it, didn't want to take photo's, didn't want serial numbers. I then showed him where I stored the bolts and ammo and all was good.

My guy asked twice how many long guns I had in what calibres. I declined. Told him if he could show me I had a legal responsibility to give that info I would. He then advised it was a "service" offered to ensure people were not still holding banned weapons. I told him all my banned weapons had been already confiscated in the "buyback", which they had, and that what he was asking was seen by the shooting community as pure police over reach. He backed right off. Later I had a word with his boss who I know personally. He assured me the guy was out of line and there was no expectation or requirement for him to ask. Said he would have a word with him.

Its only a matter of time before we have to comply but I'm buggered if I will go along with their bullshit prior. In every other respect the inspector was a real nice guy and proper gentleman. Even tho his records said I still owned an SKS - which in fact Cindy paid me over $1100 to " consolidate" . He didn't pursue that for long.

I'm still waiting for my change of address inspection 13 months later....


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Mine came inside a week, small firearms involved

I had an inspection of my safes when my son got his licence as he stores his firearms in these. All they wanted to see was that the safe was bolted to the wall and floor. Wasn't interested in how many guns there were just that not ammunition was stored in the safes along with the firearms and that the bolts were stored in a separate area.
I couldn't fault the guy as he was very respectful and good to talk to.

They're checking the safe. Have no firearms anywhere near it unless they are endorsed, B,C etc.

Originally Posted by gmm

I had an inspection of my safes when my son got his licence as he stores his firearms in these. All they wanted to see was that the safe was bolted to the wall and floor. Wasn't interested in how many guns there were just that not ammunition was stored in the safes along with the firearms and that the bolts were stored in a separate area.
I couldn't fault the guy as he was very respectful and good to talk to.

Well that is interesting too. All my bolts are stored in my rifles. Best way to lose them is to separate them. As far as I'm aware the ONLY time the law requires us to separate the bolt from the rifle is when transporting them - a recent change at that. My guy had no issue with bolts being in my rifles. Don't let cops make law on the fly.

Originally Posted by muzza

Unless you have pistols or restricted items they have no requirement to even see jn your gunsafe.

From the Arms Act:
24BGeneral conditions of firearms licence
(1)(c)
permit a member of the Police to inspect all firearms in the licence holder’s possession, the place or places where the firearms are or will be kept, and the place or places where the ammunition is or will be kept, and, for those purposes, to enter at all reasonable times upon the premises where that place or those places are situated; and...

Originally Posted by muzza

Unless you have pistols or restricted items they have no requirement to even see jn your gunsafe. That old " record serial numbers for your safety " is a lie and you should politely decline

They are allowed to ensure that you are storing your firearms without the bolts or with a cable / trigger lock in place; this is the only reason to look at your firearms.

When I had my change of address + inspection , guy wanted to see my safe. Jiggled it to see if it was secure to the wall, and asked where I stored my ammo. I guess he wanted to make sure I was storing ammo separately from the guns.