Issues in firearms control: a critique of the 1985 New South Wales legislation
| Published date | 01 December 1985 |
| Date | 01 December 1985 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/000486588501800406 |
AUST &NZ
JOURNAL
OF CRIMINOLOGY (DECEMBER 1985) 18 (257-271) 257
ISSUES IN FIREARMS CONTROL: ACRITIQUE OF THE 1985
NEW SOUTH WALES LEGISLATION
JDavid Fine*
Abstract
New South Wales recently has
adopted
significant amendments to its firearms
control laws. In so doing it has evinced certain fundamental policy choices. These
relate to matters including gun registration
and
the
licensing of gun owners; controls
on ammunition;
the
appropriate locus of discretion in firearms control matters; the
appropriate controls for especially dangerous types of firearms;
the
situation of
primary producers; reciprocity in firearms licensing within Australia; and the
collection of historically significant firearms.
This article identifies
the
policy preferences implicit in the 1985 New South Wales
law. It then proceeds to critique these policy decisions with reference to patterns of
law (present
and
emerging) in the country's
other
jurisdictions,
and
the
relevant
secondary literature in
the
field. While concluding that the newly
amended
New
South Wales legislation remains "functional and purposive", on
the
whole, the
article ends with a problematic for
the
future.
VII.
And
be it further enacted, That every person who shall be found with any fire-arms, or other
instruments
of
a violent nature, in his possession, and shall not prove to the satisfaction
of
the Justices
of
the Peace as aforesaid, that the same was or were not intended to be illegally used, as hereinbefore is
provided, shall be deemed to be guilty
of
a high misdemeanour, ...A
Introduction
The
Firearms
and
Dangerous Weapons (Amendment) Act 1985 was passed by
the
New South Wales Parliament shortly before its
Easter
recess, in
the
same form
in which it was introduced by the Government on 21 February 1985. Its aim, said
the
Premier's Office on the occasion of approval of the Bill (as it
then
was) by
Cabinet afortnight
prior
to its introduction, was, "protecting lives
and
property by
promoting safe
and
lawful firearm practices".1
This announcement gives one the impression
that
increased protection would be
afforded the public through
the
increased penalties for violations of
the
State's
firearms laws: details of such increased penalties occupy all of
the
first page of the
press release.
The
present article does
not
canvass once again
the
general issue of
the
deterrence value of increases in maximum penalties which courts might impose
for breaches of law.
Rather,
it will be limited to consideration
of
the
substantive
changes to
the
scheme of firearms controls introduced in New South Wales.
Firstly,
the
most significant amendments will be catalogued. Secondly, some
likely difficulties in interpretation of
the
Act,
which appear to emerge from its new
provisions, will be discussed; and the article will proceed to assess generally the
extent to which
the
substantive amendments may meet the objectives of
the
Act's
proponents. Also in this second part,
the
new scheme will be considered in the
context of existing
and
emerging patterns of firearms control in Australia.
*BSc (Georgetown); LLB, BCL (McGill); LLM (Columbia); F CoIl P, School of Law, Macquarie
University, North Ryde NSW.
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