Hundreds of rounds of ammunition and dozens of firearms were seized during a police operation in Melton earlier this month.
Officers from Caroline Springs police, Melton Crime Investigation Unit and the Williamstown district firearms officer, visited 37 rural properties around the shire, speaking to licensed firearm holders.
Senior Sergeant Danny Trevaglini said Operation Random ran over two days, on October 11 and 12, with police checking on licence compliance. As a result, 25 firearms were seized and seven were voluntarily surrendered.
Most of the firearms seized were long-arms weapons, such as shotguns and rifles.
Senior Sergeant Trevaglini said four people had been charged with a number of offences, including failing to comply with their licence conditions. They will appear on summons in court at a later date.
Meanwhile, police suspended the licences of two people.
Senior Sergeant Trevaglini said no particular threats, or increase in gun violence across the state, had prompted the check-up operation.
“Quite often we do checks – unannounced checks – to ensure people are compliant with their licence conditions,” Senior Sergeant Trevaglini said. “Caroline Springs has got a large rural area, and it was just due.”
Senior Sergeant Trevaglini said it is important people properly store their firearms and ammunition.
An old-school locker with a padlock just isn’t sufficient or appropriate, he said.
“If you’ve got any queries, either ring your local police or the district firearms office – these checks will continue, and they’re random.We’re making sure people are compliant with their licence conditions, so these guns don’t end up in the wrong hands,” he said.
Meanwhile, an Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission report on guns revealed there could be as many as 260,000 illegal weapons circulating among criminals, and urged a national gun amnesty program.
But numbers of illegal guns could run as high as 600,000, if a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime formula to estimate the number of illegal weapons in any given country is used.
