David Dunstan was doing nothing more than being at home at night with his family, when his terriers – Tax and Pip – told him something was wrong.
The story of what happened next echoed around the nation after he grabbed his 22 to confront the man with a knife and piece of wood at his back door.
The man was arrested: no-one got hurt. Except that NSW Police took HIS guns and suspended HIS licence. Read more »
The State Government has just tabled the Firearms Amendment Bill 2017 and the Explanatory Memorandum in the lower house.
Click here to see the bill and here to see the more useful Explanatory Memorandum.
There isn’t much we’re going to say on it until we’ve had a chance to go through it more thoroughly. While there is a focus on criminal access to firearms, there are a number of provisions we will definitely have a close look at such how the Chief Commissioner can use ‘behaviour’ as a reason to prohibit a person from being able to access firearms, the changing definition of firearm trafficking and the changes to appeal rights.
We’ll have more to say once we’ve gone through it more carefully
UPDATE: David’s licence will be returned today. Click here for more
By now half of Australia has heard about David Dunstan’s plight.
David’s the guy who used his unloaded 22 to stop an intruder breaking into his house at 3:30 in the morning armed with a knife and piece of wood. David persuaded the guy to sit in his car and ended up handing him over to the police.
The problem is, the police then went back to David’s property to confiscate HIS guns and hit him with a Notice of Suspension. This means David’s hands will now be tied until the police decide whether or not they’re going to charge him (… with what?). Read more »
One of our legal minds has been looking at the ‘appearance’ provisions of the Victorian Firearms Act 1996.
The offending provisions are found in sections 3A and 3B of the Act which give the Chief Commissioner broad powers to either temporarily or permanently recategorise Cat A or B firearms on the basis of appearance.
In fact, if you read what he has to say carefully, you’ll see it’s worse than that. The Chief Commissioner can recategorise firearms for reasons which go beyond appearance – or for no reason at all. Read more »
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