The shooting of four police officers in Bendigo last Friday reflects on Victoria’s critically flawed gun laws, according to Gun Control Australia(GCA).

“Victorian gun laws have been a disaster waiting to happen since the Kennett Government emasculated the Port Arthur Gun Laws in March 1998,”said GCA Spokesperson Randy Marshall. “John Wason’s rampage on Friday was a direct result of the short-sightedness and lack of energy demonstrated by both legislators and police.”

“Training and testing are still critically inadequate. Wason and all other shooters should be re-tested on an annual basis. The issue of mental instability remains a vexed one – Wason’s doctors and psychiatrists should have reported his unsuitability for gun license holding to authorities. The issue of shooters licenses should include a doctor’s declaration that the applicant is a fit and proper person to own and use a weapon – both physically and mentally.

“Finally, the ludicrously protracted amnesty offered by the Kennett Government to the holders of illegal weapons – which remains in place until September 2000 – is highly dangerous to community safety. Police and the general public are at risk from Victoria’s 75,000+ illegal weapons, with no programme in place to trace and seize weapons and punish lawbreakers with the stiff penalties laid down nationally following the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996,” Mr Marshall said.

“The Kennett Government has much to answer for here in Victoria. Victoria’s three key Independent Parliamentarians and the winner of the Frankston East by-election should examine the Liberal Party’s record closely – and demand reform from the Bracks ALP Opposition, which has adroitly avoided taking a stand on gun control during its campaign and subsequent power broking in its quest to form a government,” Mr Marshall concluded.