There’s more than 7,000 guns in Campbelltown and local Greens councillor Ben Moroney is worried that they may end up in the wrong hands.
“One gun owner in Campbelltown has 84 guns, another in Glenfield has 85 guns, another in Denham Court has 29,’’ says Cr Moroney.
“There are now 100 individuals across the state who own more than 70 guns.
“These gun owners are not collectors or arms dealers but private individuals who have been allowed to amass private arsenals.
“This is because a loophole in NSW’s gun laws allows private individuals to use the same reason to buy their first, tenth or 310th gun.
“We need to close this loophole immediately, there is no good reason for a private individual to own hundreds of guns,’’ the Greens councillor said.
He was speaking as part of a call by NSW Greens to the major political parties to get tough on gun control.
The Greens claim new research shows Labor and the Liberals’ failure on gun laws and favouritism towards the gun lobby has led to private arsenals in suburbia and a spike in the overall number of guns in NSW.
How do the Greens know how many guns there are?
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“You can find out how many guns are in your neighbourhood by searching your postcode on the Greens’ website TooManyGuns,’’ says NSW Greens MP and gun control spokesperson David Shoebridge.[/social_quote]
“The total number of guns in NSW has jumped by 65,000 in just two years,’’ he said.
“There are now more than 900,000 registered guns across the state and Campbelltown has just over 7,000 guns.
“Fewer households own guns, but ownership has become more concentrated.
“It is inevitable that some of these private arsenals will end up in the hands of criminals,’’ Mr Shoebridge said.
“Just last week 15 guns were stolen from a property in the Hunter Valley.
“If this trend is allowed to continue NSW will have over one million registered guns within another two years.
“A 20 year review of gun laws enacted after the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996 did not even look at capping the number of guns that can be owned by one individual. Instead, it focused mainly on reducing red tape for the gun lobby.
‘’Labor and the Liberals must stand up to the gun lobby and stop ignoring the community who overwhelmingly support serious gun control,’’ Mr Shoebridge said.
♦ New research available on The Greens’ website TooManyGuns shows the extent of gun ownership and private arsenals across the state. People can search by their postcode to see how many registered guns are in their communities.
Great work