Figures just released by the Victorian Police under FOI show that it is almost impossible to fail the accreditation test to become licensed to own a gun.

Gun Control Australia (GCA) spokesperson Randy Marshall said: “In 1999, 12,335 people sat the safety course to obtain a shooters licence — and only 8 failed. In 2000, 15,131 people sat the test and only 10 failed.

“This means that for every 1500 people who sit the test, 1499 are approved for a licence which leads to gun ownership or expressed in percentage over 99.9% pass.

“This also shows that the accreditation test is a farce and must be replaced by a thorough training and testing program of not less that 20 hours,” Mr Marshall said.

“Training and testing must be placed into the hands of independent assessors — ideally at TAFE colleges,” Mr Marshall continued. “This will prevent cheating, ‘coaching’ by pro-gun test adjudicators, and will make test results realistic rather than the farce they have been for years and remain today.”

The costs of lax training and testing are too high, Mr Marshall stressed. Near Warburton in February 1999 a young man walking his dog was shot dead by a deer shooter who had passed his one-hour safety test but was obviously poorly trained. Only a week ago a licensed shooter accidentally killed his son whilst the family was hunting foxes near Hamilton.

“These are examples of the inadequacy of the training and testing program which the Bracks Government is satisfied with,” said Mr Marshall. “For many years Gun Control Australia has asked this government to take the training course out of the hands of shooters and put it into the hands of the TAFE system, but Mr Bracks and his Police and Environment Ministers have refused.”

“It is an irresponsible government which deceives the public by pretending that a serious instruction course with proper testing is taking place when the facts suggest that shooters licences are almost being given away by the Government,” Mr Marshall said.