It’s not just in New Zealand that ham-fisted, bungling Keystone Kops are screwing up firearms registration – and punishing law-abiding gun owners for the Plod’s own failings.
As has been laid bare in recent days, NZ police bungling allowed Christchurch shooter Brenton Tarrant to amass his armoury without being properly vetted. On the other hand, as reported in The BFD, law-abiding, decent families have been subjected to police raids over an innocuous “bunny gun”.
Across the Tasman, Victoria Police – already plagued by scandals from “Lawyer X” to the Pell witch-hunt – aren’t doing much better.
Mike Sloan, a respected Melbourne security business owner pursued legal action after being charged with alleged breaches of his security licence, when it emerged that some 17 firearms in his possession were supposedly “seized” by police. Security business owners claim that it is far from an isolated case of police stuffing up their own database – and then trying to punish gun owners.
“They are closing down businesses because of their own mistakes,” one owner said.
Mr Sloan, who has previously taught Iraqi National Police on behalf of the Australian government, won his legal action against Vic Police – but if he thought he was off the hook with the rozzers, he was sadly mistaken.
In 2017, the Licensing and Regulation Division [LRD] charged Mike with operating in breach of two conditions of his Security Industry Instructors Licence, shut down his training school and seized his guns.
The matter went to trial in the Magistrates Court in 2018 where the LRD’s claims were proven to be false as it had failed to update its own database with the correct firearm information. LRD was forced to drop its case against Mike and pay his legal bills.
Like many businesses, Sloan was forced to suspend his security training school during the COVID lockdowns.
Then he got hit with a double whammy after suffering a major heart attack which resulted in him being hospitalised for several weeks.
While in hospital, and after putting into renew his licences, Mike received notices of suspension of his firearms and security licences, stating “there may be grounds” to cancel his licences.
The letters stated that the LRD was ‘not satisfied that it is in the public interest’ for him to hold the licences or that he met the probity requirements of being a ‘fit and proper person’.
Why the LRD decided this is not clear: Mike did not do anything that would be of concern to them[…]
After leaving hospital, the LRD visited Mike’s business to go through its books with him. Officers noted that he had not been trading for a period of time, which Mike explained was because he was in hospital and limited by the COVID restrictions.
The response of one officer was “too bad, so sad” before then leaving.
National Shooting Council
In November, the LRD notified Sloan that his security training business and firearm licences had been cancelled. So, while he is still a licensed Victoria Police Firearms/Security Industry Instructor and authorised Victoria Police Firearms Safety course Instructor, he is unable to run his own business or use the firearms that are the tools of his trade.
The National Shooting Council says that it appears that the LRD used the license renewal process to determine that Sloan’s business was not “financially viable”…during the COVID lockdowns and while Sloan was hospitalised following his heart attack. The NSC says that financial liability only applies under the Private Security Act 2004 when a person first applies for a licence.
The NSC further argues that letters alleging that Sloan is “no longer a fit and proper person to hold his licences” have severe legal ramifications for all security businesses and gun dealers. “It is not too hard to see the LRD target gun dealers who they allege are also no longer fit and proper to hold their licences, without explaining why.”
It’s almost like firearms registries are being used to harass the innocent and law-abiding, while crims and gangs just carry on as usual.
Mike Sloan is currently appealing the decisions in the Firearm Appeals Committee for his handgun licences and Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for his business licences.
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