lightweight wrote:Hi All, I've been a long time lurker of this forum, but thought I would post my own experience.
Several years ago while I was out of the country working, the police showed up at my house to complete a gun safe inspection. My wife was home with our young son and answered the front door. The 2 police explained their reason for visiting and my wife let them know that I was out of the country. One of the officers asked if my wife could please open the safe, so they could check the numbers but my wife responded saying she didn't have a key. The policemen pushed and pushed, finally telling her to stop "f***ing around" and open the safe so they could check the numbers.
Luckily she didn't even have a key, so she just held firm. My wife is very careful and probably would of caved in if she did have a key after the amount of pressure they laid on her. I had one with me in East Timor and my Father- a licensed gun owner had the only other key (which my wife didn't even know about).
This is a first hand experience dealing with very pushy, unprofessional police (only the one). I've since had 2 other inspections that went very smoothly. I'm always very respectful and always offer them a cuppa before hand. Even when I've had unmatching numbers or even rifles that didn't exist on the register the police have been overwhelmingly professional.
The best defence is to not leave a key/combination with anyone who is un-licensed and follow the laws.
regards
Lightweight
They have no right to come in when you are not home. The legislation states "at a time mutually agreeable to both parties"