Want gun licence? Go to the post office
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Updated
There are more than 260,000 registered guns in Western Australia. (www.flickr.com: Kevitivity)
In Western Australia the local post office will soon become a distributor of gun licences.
The scheme will make it easier to get a firearm licence because applicants will not necessarily have to go to a police station.
Instead, application forms can be downloaded from the internet and presented at the post office.
There are more than 260,000 registered guns in Western Australia; that is about one gun for every nine people in the state.
Police Minister Rob Johnson says the post office plan will not have any impact on the normal security checks for a licence.
"The new system is designed to make it easier and not be so time-consuming for people who want to get a licence for a gun," he said.
"Many of those simply get an extra licence for an extra gun that they want to buy.
"There are many sporting shooters club members.
"And there will be no decrease in the scrutiny of anybody who wants to get a licence for a gun. I can assure you of that."
Anyone applying for a licence will still have to prove they have a proper need for a gun and they must pass a full check via CrimTrac.
But they may only be required to attend a police interview if an officer requests it.
The Sporting Shooters Association says it is concerned because police have strong local knowledge and taking them out of the process may compromise public safety.
Following a meeting with the State Government, the Association's president Ron Bryant now says he is happy.
"Our major concern was the front contact that at a local level, you know, at a local station level where the local knowledge was involved, but that appears to have been addressed," he said.
"So, they'll basically obtain the forms down from the web and basically they'll lodge those forms with a payment at Australia Post."
"Our concern was local knowledge, local police know the people in their area and, you know, if there's someone that's up to no good they generally know about it and they would slow things down for that person applying.
"But there is a way they're going to involve local people and I guess some sort of reporting structure between the central division and the local station."
Mr Bryant says police waste a lot of man hours processing applications and the new system will make it easier.
"[It's] absolutely ridiculous the amount of hours they waste currently," he said.
Mr Bryant says the new scheme will bring Western Australia into line with other states, where various government agencies can deal with firearms licences.
The WA Government wants the new scheme to begin in September.
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