Thieves in Victoria have stolen more than 3500 firearms in the last five years — an average of almost two a day.
So 2 per day, that's 730 per year, roughly. So assuming that's 730 criminals who are not armed, which is horrible, but, for a state of 5,886,400 people (as off 2014), that 0.012%, playing around with the numbers in the article anyway. Doesn't seem like the end of the world. Not to mention, specific numbers are not provided - where? From whom? Surely if it's stolen we should be able to tell what the guns are since they are all registered, etc.
(original on Herald Sun)
Illegal firearms flooding into Victoria as black market guns sell for $1000
BLACK market handguns are selling for as little as $1000 amid a plague of firearms thefts and an alarming flood of illegal weapons into Victoria.
Police say the glut has been a big factor in a recent wave of fatal shootings and woundings, including drive-by attacks.
Shootings in Melbourne this year are running at a rate of about one a day, as drug dealers, ice addicts and Middle Eastern gangs increasingly rely on firepower to settle disputes or intimidate rivals.
Thieves in Victoria have stolen more than 3500 firearms in the last five years — an average of almost two a day.
And increasing numbers of high-quality handguns are being built using gunsmithing machines.
Many guns are also being bought and smuggled in via the internet’s dark web.
As a result, 9mm pistols can now be bought for as little as $1000, often by drug dealers looking for protection, the Herald Sun has learned.
Five years ago, a Melbourne criminal would struggle to find a gun on the black market for less than $3000.
“The number (of guns now) is phenomenal,” one senior officer said.
Guns are regularly stolen from country centres, including Mildura, Swan Hill and Echuca, to supply organised crime figures in the city, sources have told the Herald Sun.
Ice dealers in rural areas are suspected of stealing the guns and selling them on.
“They are stealing guns from soft targets and getting them to their associates in the city,” a source said
Last year alone, more than 700 guns were stolen — mostly, according to Crime Statistics Agency figures, from homes and farms. Police suspect many are shotguns, later sawn down for use in crimes.
According to the Australian Border Force, most smuggled guns and gun parts are from the United States; European guns are also popular imports.
Large numbers of cheap pistols from Eastern Bloc countries were on the market in Victoria, one former black market gun trafficker said.
And gun components are often smuggled in, almost always to Melbourne and Sydney, via air parcels delivered by companies such as FedEx.
“These guys don’t give a rat’s arse where they’re going,” the ex-dealer said.
“Everybody wants a gun. Some blokes are good at getting stolen cars. Some blokes can get you guns.”
Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said a gun crime unit had been set up within the Purana taskforce.
He said: “Firearm ownership requires owners to use common sense to ensure their firearms are stored safely and securely and in accordance with (the law).”
A 30-year-old man was charged by Armed Crime Squad detectives last Friday following a number of shootings around Geelong this month.
His arrest follows an investigation by the Armed Crime Squad into the following shootings:
MARCH 6: A man was shot at following an altercation while driving in Norlane about 3.20pm.
MARCH 7: A woman arrived at hospital in Geelong shortly after 5am suffering from a gunshot wound. Later that day a man was shot after approaching a vehicle outside his property in Lara at 9pm.
MARCH 20: A man was threatened with a firearm for not moving his car, and a shot was fired into the air in Breakwater.
OTHER SHOOTINGS AROUND VICTORIA THIS MONTH
MARCH 5: A man, 36, was shot in the leg in Hadfield. The shooting came hours after two men were shot at the Bros bikie gang’s clubhouse in Yarraville.
MARCH 6: Mahamd Hassan, 23, died after he was shot in a room at the Parkside Inn Motel in Kingsbury. A Lalor man, 20, was charged with murder.
MARCH 9: The driver of a black Audi fired a shot from a handgun at a Mazda after pulling up alongside in Sunshine West.
MARCH 9: Five shots were fired at a unit in Frawley Rd, Hallam. Three people were inside.
MARCH 9: A 25-year-old man was shot after confronting an armed man outside his Noble Park home.
MARCH 11: A man was shot in the upper body in Frankston and taken to The Alfred hospital.
MARCH 15: Gangland lawyer Joseph “Pino” Acquaro was murdered in a suspected professional hit in St Phillip Street, Brunswick East.
MARCH 22: Police responding to reports of gunshots in Callignee, in the Latrobe Valley, were driven at by a man in a car. A man and an 18-year-old were arrested by SOG officers.
