The State Liberal Government is considering strengthening firearms laws to ensure the safety of all South Australians.
The considerations of changes to the Firearms Act, which began earlier this year, come amid an incident on Friday in Burkunga where excellent investigative work by SAPOL resulted in the seizure of a cache of weapons including illegal handguns, semi-automatic rifles, insecure ammunition and a crossbow.
Minister for Police Corey Wingard said that while he could not comment on the Burkunga case specifically as it is before the courts, it was incidents such as this that justifiably raise concern among the community.
“We have seen overseas, just on the weekend in a horrific event in El Paso, about the consequences of gun violence and we are not going to let that happen here,” Minister Wingard said.
“We will release details of our considerations soon, but South Australians can rest assured they have a Government that is committed to doing whatever is necessary to protect them from gun violence.”
Minister Wingard said the majority of firearm owners were responsible and would not be affected by any considered changes.
But, he said, it was also important legislation ensured firearms were not allowed to flow into the hands of inappropriate people.
“The focus is on laws which keep firearms out of the hands of idiots.”
The Marshall Government has provided $9 million to SAPOL for the implementation of a Rapid Response team to enhance its ability to react to hostile incidents.
“In all, we have committed $52 million towards to reducing crime and increasing security in this year’s Budget so that South Australians not only feel safe but are safe,” Minister Wingard said.
