Greens gunning for illegal weapons inquiry

Press release from Senator Penny Wright, Australian Greens

The Australian Greens will today move to establish a Senate inquiry to investigate new measures to combat illegal gun crime in Australia, spokesperson for Legal Affairs Senator Penny Wright has announced.

Senator Wright said more needed to be done to keep Australian streets safe and prepare for new weapons technology.

“Despite all the reforms of the Howard years, there are still too many gun-related tragedies in Australia,” Senator Wright said.

“In the past few years many of these have been gang-related crime, committed with stolen guns. There must be more we can do to make it harder for criminals to get their hands on deadly weapons.

“My inquiry will look at how the illegal gun trade is working; who’s behind it, how they are operating, and what we can do about it.

“We want to find out whether police have all the resources they require and what laws or systems Australia might need to deal with 3D printing of weapons, which currently can’t be detected by security scanners.”

Senator Wright said the inquiry would also look specifically at a ban on semi-automatic handguns.

“There are more than 10,000 handguns on the black market. These are the weapon of choice for gangs and drug traders, because they’re small, easy to hide, easy to fire and deadly.

“After the Port Arthur Massacre, Australia banned semi-automatic longarm guns, but not semi-automatic pistols. Handguns are designed to kill people – nothing else – so what justification is there for people in the community to own them?

“The Australian Greens’ view is we can reduce gang crime by taking away gang weapons.”

 

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