Protects the Public, Protects Police Officers
The Tasmanian Greens today challenged the State Liberal party to support tougher gun laws, following the theft of 14 firearms from one location over the weekend.
Greens Police and Emergency Services spokesperson Paul O’Halloran MP said the silence of the Liberal Party over the need to tighten of gun controls exposes their law and order push as a populist sham.
“We cannot tackle gun theft and the real risk of violence without strengthening the current laws,” Mr O’Halloran said.
“Before this latest theft of 14 firearms, we already saw 258 stolen firearms during the last financial year, with many of these from gun safes that met the current law’s standards.”
“Clearly the current laws are ineffective, and at the least the storage requirements must be strengthened as a matter of priority.’
“If the Liberals were genuine about improving the numbers and conditions of our police force, they would also be advocating tougher gun laws.”
“The 14 firearms that were stolen from a storage unit that complied with the law, are now illegal weapons at large, posing a real threat to our community and our police officers.”
“The Liberals should be embarrassed by their attempt to avoid the urgent need to tackle the number of guns and the range of firearms available. Until they do so and meet this challenge, public safety will remain threatened, including that of current and future police personnel.”
“Additional to the urgent need to strengthening storage security requirements, tougher laws are needed to restrict access to high power and rapid-fire weapons, and remove semi-automatic hand guns,” Mr O’Halloran said.
Paul O’Halloran MP Greens Police and Emergency Services spokesperson
