Police seize 30 guns from Canberra's north, and reveal where most illegal guns come from

Police have seized 30 registered and unregistered guns, and one replica firearm after targeted activities in Canberra's north this week.

Subscribe now for unlimited access.

or signup to continue reading

Detective acting Inspector Mark Battye said police seized 27 weapons and 4000 rounds of ammunition from a Dunlop man yesterday after an inspection last week revealed "anomalies".

It is alleged the man had two unregistered weapons during the second inspection on October 26 which prompted police to seize all 25 of his registered guns and cancel his firearms licence.

The Dunlop man was the third person to lose their licence during police compliance checks. Mr Battye said all the cancelled licences related to pest control and sports shooting.

The second-most common reason was sport, with 3300 licences listed as being issued for target shooting.

Dectective acting Inspector Mark Battye. Picture by Keegan Carroll

On Monday, police also revisited a house in Hackett and seized two .22-calibre rifles and a shotgun.

Mr Battye said police had already seized two guns from the Hackett location on Sunday, but had to pause the search after allegedly finding equipment that may have been used to run a clandestine laboratory or drug lab.

"We ultimately paused our search warrant until we got other resources in to make it safe and clear [the house]. We resumed the search warrant on the Monday and that's when we found three more firearms," he said.

'Greedy' criminals driving demand for illegal guns

Mr Battye said often unregistered weapons seized in Canberra were stolen from NSW and surrounding country areas.

"They're stolen from licensed firearm operators who sometimes don't have as much safety and security on their firearm storage as they ideally should," he said.

He said ACT Policing was looking forward to using a national firearms database - expected to go live in 2028 - which would provide better access, allow licence holders to update their information online and strengthen police ability to maintain accurate data.

Mr Battye said the demand for unregistered firearms was driven by black market trade, adding that drug traffickers, outlaw motorcycle gangs and criminal groups selling illicit tobacco used firearms for intimidation and violence.

A haul of guns surrendered to police after the Permanenent National Firearms Amnesty was enacted in 2021. Photo by Karleen Minney.

"Whenever there are greedy people exploiting community safety [and] making a lot of money, they will always need firearms generally to make themselves feel safe from being assaulted or robbed by other criminals," Mr Battye said.

Overnight, police also found and seized a gel blaster, which was a replica of a Glock pistol, from a car in Amaroo after being tipped off about a person suspected to have a gun in their vehicle.

Mr Battye said gel blasters continue to be used in violent crimes, robberies and break-ins, and police treat them with the same seriousness as they would a real gun.

He said gel blasters were bought in Queensland, where they remain legal, or overseas and shipped to the ACT.

"Gel blasters are a significant issue for us," Mr Battye said. "When we catch people with gel blasters, they are charged with the same offence of carrying a proper firearm."

Police welcome new firearm 'disruption' tool

Police welcomed the passage of new laws on Tuesday that will create a new system to block high-risk people from owning guns and give officers greater power to search for illegal firearms.

ACT's Chief Police Officer, Detective Inspector Scott Lee and Police Minister Dr Marisa Paterson. Picture by Karleen Minney

ACT Chief Police Officer Scott Lee said a preliminary assessment had found there were about 70 people who would be considered for a firearm prohibition order.

"Firearms prohibition orders will be focused on those high-risk individuals in the ACT, whether it be for serious organised crime, terrorism related activity or domestic violence and we can take steps to ensure that we disrupt their access to firearms and do that at an early stage," Mr Lee said.

"Certainly we now look forward to working with government over the next 12 months and with our other partners here in the ACT to implement this legislation."

Dr Paterson said the government would introduce a bill related to enabling the firearms register in the next sitting of the Legislative Assembly.

A bill to cap the number of firearms anyone can own legally in the territory remains before the territory's parliament.

More from Court and Crime