You know the story – David Dunstan is the NSW farmer who became the victim of an atrocious bureaucracy that took his guns off him for defending himself against an armed intruder carrying a knife at his back door at 3 in the morning.
Five and a half weeks on, the NSW Police have finally advised David that he can have his firearms licence back. All David has to do now is go and get his licence from Albury Police Station and then his guns.
UPDATE (26/10): David advises that he now has his licence – and his guns!
It goes without saying this is something which shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
The failure of NSW Police to fix the problem straight away tells you about the culture of the place.
It also speaks to the misplaced trust the NSW Parliament has placed in the NSW Police acting in the public interest when administering the Firearms Act.
It’s a stark reminder that we should all look at our own legislation to see how it could be abused by a bureaucracy which has it’s own view on how firearms should be regulated.
A huge thank you goes to the many of you who supported our campaign to get the legal help David needed, which was a real help in steering us through legal avenues and in dealing directly with NSW Police. Our lawyer, Stephen Mainstone, did a great job (if you’d like to chat with him, you can get him at: info@mainstonelawyers.com.au).
Thank you also to the Office of the Deputy Premier of NSW, which helped pursue this matter over the past few days.
We’ll be spending the next few days working up our thoughts on the matter with a view to making a submission to the NSW government on this matter.
COMING UP: We now have a hearing date for our action against Victoria Police in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (for withholding documents showing the advice they provided the government on ‘firearm law reform’). Click here to sign up to our email list to get updates as they become available.
Thank you for the good news
😛 Beer in a Bottle, Bloody Brilliant.
Let this be a reminder if the significant political and social power LAFOs have when we work together. This is just a taste of what we can achieve.
Common sense, persistence and and Justice has prevailed. Great work guys. Admirable effort all round.
Great work team. Let’s hope it’s enough to form a precedent when police deal with these matters. This fund should grow into a fighting fund that covers all gun owners who fall afoul of bureaucracy. If we had such a fund and a great legal team to rely on, it would certainly give pause for thought to overreaching public servants.
You said it all should not have happened in the first place. I think the police should hand deliver his licence and guns back to him. And do not forget his poor wife, how she was treated.
Wasn’t this an illegal act by the police?
Should charges be pursued against whoever ordered this?
Excellent news, though of course this does not set a precedent & it can happen again!
Keith.
As is usual in these kind of cases, ‘The process becomes the punishment’
OMG, some common sense at last.
The question that still remains is what is the motivation of the NSW police in their interactions with legal gun owners?
That’s NSW for you, shit state with shit rules and even worse police force……
Good job with the crowd funding, We the shooting community need a fund like a union fund to pay into to fight all these wrong doings.
1 Million shooters @ $10 a year, $10 million per year should cover it.
Great result! Have the restrictions placed on his wife’s licence also been lifted?
@Arthur Blacks – Maybe it wasn’t an illegal act and maybe charges shouldn’t be laid, but I want a spotlight run along every last detail from beginning to end.
I think we all should agree with Adam Logan, if we do not already. Crikey, whats in $10 ? Its the least we could all donate towards keeping safe our chosen sport or recreational passtime. We have to keep those B—t–ds honest just like they forcibly keep us under strict regulations for being honest citizens and abiding by their at times absurd laws. I wish they had the same gusto and enthusiasm with illegal and unregistered gun users, (ie criminals) who flaunt the gun laws daily. Yerrrr, I know I am living in a dream world where democracy really exists. But one has to live in hope……Yes ? So what about it Firearms Council ? Lets make it happen ?