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New South Australian gun laws target bikers
FrancF
Member Posts: 35,279 ✭✭✭
NEW gun laws described by Premier Mike Rann as the toughest in Australia will come into effect from midnight tonight.
The main target of the new laws are outlaw motorcycle gangs and police will have the power to issue prohibition orders against people found near an illegal weapon or in the company of someone with a weapon.
The maximum sentence under the new laws has been increased from two years to 15.
A three-month gun amnesty will also begin on December 1 and run until February 28.
Mr Rann said the laws had been designed to target unlawful use of firearms to commit violence and criminal acts.
He said they created a new range of offences including possession of a firearm in contravention of a prohibition order and residing in premises where a firearm was present in contravention of such an order.
Mr Rann said the penalties had been increased because he, like many others, were frustrated at the some of the penalties being handed down by the courts.
"Once a prohibition notice has been slapped on somebody it virtually proscribes what they can do," he said.
"It virtually gives the police unprecedented powers of search in terms of any state or jurisdiction in Australia or anywhere we can find overseas.
"We asked the police what they needed in the fight against bikie gangs who we know are involved in murders, rapes and manufacture and distribution of drugs.
"These laws are designed to take it up to the bikie gangs. This is about preventative action."
Mr Rann said he knew there were some civil libertarians who would try to say bikie gangs were operating "knitting circles".
He displayed a whole series of weapons which had been confiscated from bikie gangs and they were in plastic bags because they were currently evidence awaiting use in trial.
The main target of the new laws are outlaw motorcycle gangs and police will have the power to issue prohibition orders against people found near an illegal weapon or in the company of someone with a weapon.
The maximum sentence under the new laws has been increased from two years to 15.
A three-month gun amnesty will also begin on December 1 and run until February 28.
Mr Rann said the laws had been designed to target unlawful use of firearms to commit violence and criminal acts.
He said they created a new range of offences including possession of a firearm in contravention of a prohibition order and residing in premises where a firearm was present in contravention of such an order.
Mr Rann said the penalties had been increased because he, like many others, were frustrated at the some of the penalties being handed down by the courts.
"Once a prohibition notice has been slapped on somebody it virtually proscribes what they can do," he said.
"It virtually gives the police unprecedented powers of search in terms of any state or jurisdiction in Australia or anywhere we can find overseas.
"We asked the police what they needed in the fight against bikie gangs who we know are involved in murders, rapes and manufacture and distribution of drugs.
"These laws are designed to take it up to the bikie gangs. This is about preventative action."
Mr Rann said he knew there were some civil libertarians who would try to say bikie gangs were operating "knitting circles".
He displayed a whole series of weapons which had been confiscated from bikie gangs and they were in plastic bags because they were currently evidence awaiting use in trial.
Comments
And yes, I chose the word slander intentionally. What with the damage a wrongful arrest could do to someones reputation.