TassieTiger wrote:When I joined our local clay club, I’d take a couple boxes with me to shoot, lock the car and then return when I was empty.
Some of the older members weee laughing at me locking the car - some have me a decent ribbing over it...but I continued to lock it.
The firearms testing facility is held at the same place, so I asked the tester wtf - he said it was a public place, anyone can drive into the car park, so lock the vehicle or face potential consequences - some of the older guys were being just so complacent.
Geeetrain wrote:I've heard a gun lic comes up when they search our car rego.
Rod_outbak wrote:I dont think anyone would argue that leaving your car unlocked in a shooting range car-park, is freaking stupid.
Even MORE stupid, is the idea of leaving firearms in an unlocked car unattended; stupid of epic proportions.
But the methods the police are employing, sound to be violating peoples rights to privacy.
If a private citizen does the same thing; rummages through an unlocked car in a public car-park, and finds incriminating items (drugs etc), what do you reckon would be the chances that evidence is admissible in court?
Pretty freaking low; I expect.
So why do the police get a different set of rules to operate by, compared to Joe Public?
I read the original article, and even in a public street, I struggle with the justification/need for the police to search the vehicle.
NO idea how searching an unlocked car can be justified, when the search has no basis for actually preventing crime.
Even more worrying, is when the police start doing it, on what is effectively private land (range car-park).
THAT, is my concern about this story.
From my perspective, this is the police justifying being a law unto themselves.
I'm going to discuss this with my local copper, and seek his thoughts...
zhuk wrote:If we bring more than one gun to my pistol club, you cannot leave it unattended in a LOCKED car, but must leave it with the duty officer (having more than one gun on the range at a time is strictly verboten)
bladeracer wrote:zhuk wrote:If we bring more than one gun to my pistol club, you cannot leave it unattended in a LOCKED car, but must leave it with the duty officer (having more than one gun on the range at a time is strictly verboten)
So what would I do if I came with 35 rifles?
pomemax wrote:f we bring more than one gun to my pistol club, you cannot leave it unattended in a LOCKED car, but must leave it with the duty officer (having more than one gun on the range at a time is strictly verboten)
When i go to the range my Range trolley has at least 3 rifles and a my pistol box may have up to 5 pistols, where in NSW approx is this range so i do not go there.
Bruiser64 wrote:This SSAA article is interesting. https://ssaa.org.au/news-resources/fire ... h-firearms
As is this article in Sporting Shooter. http://www.sportingshooter.com.au/gun-l ... ose-cannon
The key points in the articles are that Police in each jurisdiction have been give wide powers when it comes to firearms. Also all license holders must adequately secure their guns. As law abiding firearms owners we all need to make sure we comply with the laws of the state or territory we are in with our guns. The first step with complying with the law is establishing what the laws are. We can all argue about whether the police have the power to check unlocked cars or not. But at the end of the day if you have inadequately stored your guns, you have no one else to blame for your legal difficulty.
This might be an unpopular view, but I can’t blame a police force for doing this. The criminally inclined seeking guns are going to target the places where they know the guns are. I think a gun club is a pretty obvious target for a crim. What is at all unreasonable about the police targeting a high risk area to ensure compliance with the law? Especially when they get a positive reinforcement that their concerns about a lackadaisical attitude to security are well founded?
Archie wrote:pomemax wrote:f we bring more than one gun to my pistol club, you cannot leave it unattended in a LOCKED car, but must leave it with the duty officer (having more than one gun on the range at a time is strictly verboten)
When i go to the range my Range trolley has at least 3 rifles and a my pistol box may have up to 5 pistols, where in NSW approx is this range so i do not go there.
For what it's worth, if you go to Silverwater SSAA range (or at least it used to be that way, I haven't been to that range in a year or more, good people but single shot benchrest bores me stupid....) you can't take your rifle from your car until you've signed in. That means you have to leave them in your car while you sign in, and only then do you go get it. And they're pretty strict about it too. Had a couple of mates get a bollocking for walking in with their guns in gunbags on their way to sign in.
bladeracer wrote:Bruiser64 wrote:This SSAA article is interesting. https://ssaa.org.au/news-resources/fire ... h-firearms
As is this article in Sporting Shooter. http://www.sportingshooter.com.au/gun-l ... ose-cannon
The key points in the articles are that Police in each jurisdiction have been give wide powers when it comes to firearms. Also all license holders must adequately secure their guns. As law abiding firearms owners we all need to make sure we comply with the laws of the state or territory we are in with our guns. The first step with complying with the law is establishing what the laws are. We can all argue about whether the police have the power to check unlocked cars or not. But at the end of the day if you have inadequately stored your guns, you have no one else to blame for your legal difficulty.
This might be an unpopular view, but I can’t blame a police force for doing this. The criminally inclined seeking guns are going to target the places where they know the guns are. I think a gun club is a pretty obvious target for a crim. What is at all unreasonable about the police targeting a high risk area to ensure compliance with the law? Especially when they get a positive reinforcement that their concerns about a lackadaisical attitude to security are well founded?
I don't think anybody is disputing the results, and that anybody doing should have the book thrown at them. But I do not for one second believe their doing this prevents any crime or protects anybody from violence. While they're burning up hours doing this they could be out investigating actual criminal activity.
But I have a serious concern that Police are becoming immune to our laws.
How far are we from having them driving around the suburbs checking that houses are locked up, and stealing anything they find that might constitute a crime?
marksman wrote:I have not been to little river, eagle park ssaa range for a couple of years now but when I did frequent that range this rumour was one of the made up rumour's that came up all the time, spread by the RO's created by the little river little d!ck chief range officer
can anyone say that they have been at a range anywhere in Australia and witnessed the police doing a carpark check
I do believe that you should lock up your firearms and ammo when being stored but don't believe this story to be fact
eagle park range need to get there security in order eg... secure the range so you have to sign in before you can enter the range
and stop these silly rumours
bladeracer wrote:zhuk wrote:If we bring more than one gun to my pistol club, you cannot leave it unattended in a LOCKED car, but must leave it with the duty officer (having more than one gun on the range at a time is strictly verboten)
So what would I do if I came with 35 rifles?
zhuk wrote:bladeracer wrote:zhuk wrote:If we bring more than one gun to my pistol club, you cannot leave it unattended in a LOCKED car, but must leave it with the duty officer (having more than one gun on the range at a time is strictly verboten)
So what would I do if I came with 35 rifles?
Well it's a pistol club so that's unlikely heh
But at my rifle club we park on the actual range just behind the mound/firing line, and no matter that we would see anyone else appearing from a mile off, regardless of how many rifles all cars are locked at all times.
Bruiser64 wrote:zhuk wrote:bladeracer wrote:zhuk wrote:If we bring more than one gun to my pistol club, you cannot leave it unattended in a LOCKED car, but must leave it with the duty officer (having more than one gun on the range at a time is strictly verboten)
So what would I do if I came with 35 rifles?
Well it's a pistol club so that's unlikely heh
But at my rifle club we park on the actual range just behind the mound/firing line, and no matter that we would see anyone else appearing from a mile off, regardless of how many rifles all cars are locked at all times.
To me that sounds like you are a member of clubs that take their responsibilities seriously and the members hold each other to account. I would be very surprised if the overwhelming majority of clubs weren’t the same. Which is why I doubt that the police have conducted this operation. It wouldn’t achieve much. Here in WA they did an operation to check that gun owners were storing their firearms correctly. The police concluded that yes, they do.