More than 2000 guns have been stolen from Tasmanian properties over a decade, a new report shows.
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And the lobby group behind the report says the statistics, which recorded the theft 27,000 guns nationwide between 2007 and 2017, says the figures show action is need on storage laws and ownership restrictions.
Gun Control Australia reported there had been 2084 firearms stolen over the period of time.
In 2016-17, there had been 207 guns stolen in the state
This was the lowest figure since 2008-09 and significantly lower than the 260 guns stolen in 2015-16.
Overall, the average number of guns stolen nationally had doubled from 1700 in 2007-08 to nearly 3300 in 2016-17.
Category A and Category B firearms, such as air rifles and shot guns, were the most common type of guns stolen.
The lobby group called for gun storage laws in some states to be updated and for a limit of five or less guns to be imposed on a licence holder for ownership at any one time.
Tasmanian Greens justice spokeswoman Rosalie Woodruff said the state government now needed to dump its contentious firearms policy which would allow for greater access to self-loading rifles and pump-action shotguns and extending licence periods.
“We don’t need an upper house inquiry to tell us the Liberals’ backdoor election policy would make Tasmania in breach of the National Firearms Agreement, and the community less safe because of it,” she said.
“The Liberals’ unsafe firearms policy was only revealed a few days before the election, and never announced publicly.
“There is no mandate to weaken our gun laws and make our community less safe in an attempt to buy votes from a particular constituency.”
Police Minister Michael Ferguson said the government would not make legislative changes which compromised the National Firearms Agreement.
“And we support the upper House inquiry as it will allow everyone to have their say on these proposals which are intended as practical improvements only,” he said.
Mr Ferguson said the government was behind strengthening firearm storage requirements which made them the toughest in the country.
“The latest figures show these changes are working as intended with a significant reduction in firearm theft in Tasmania,” he said.
Tasmania Police said there has been 19 firearm thefts so far this financial year, compared to 45 over the same period last financial year.
“The theft of any firearm is a concern but with over a 1000 home burglaries year-to-date, firearm thefts are a very small percentage due to high levels of storage, vigilance by gun owners and the high number of inspections undertaken by police each year,” a spokeswoman said.
