NSW gun registry may not be secure.

[gejohnston]

DETAILS of where and how 700,000 guns are stored in NSW could be in the hands of criminals because of poor security surrounding the state's firearms registry, a senior police officer said.

Sergeant David Good said his warnings that details were accessible by 16,000 officers and civilians on an unsecured file server for at least 18 months prior to 2010 have been ignored.

He said he decided to go public after a fake police officer conducted a gun audit at a property in Taree last week and was shown a gun safe. The suspicious property owner contacted his local station and was told no audit was being done.

"My motivation for going public is simply to see the NSW Police Force is brought to account for creating a very significant risk to licensed firearms owners and the wider community and this risk would have been avoided through sensible security and practices in regard to the very sensitive nature of the information at risk," he said.

If gun owners are expected to have safes bolted to the floor, the cops can at least have a secure registry.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/officers-fears-for-firearms-security/story-e6frf7jo-1226687781333
In other news, looks like the Australian Hells Angels are at war with the Commancheros.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/two-die-in-suburban-gun-mayhem/story-fnii5qqe-1226687853496

[ileus]

1. they give out personal info like candy to the media already

should this be any surprise...

[petronius]

2. With the caveat that this is based on the concerns of one officer,

possibly less-than-fully-gruntled, I would hope that the NSW authorities are looking closely at whether or not these fake police / fake inspections are occurring, and whether there are any patterns in gun thefts. Maybe a survey of gun owners asking if they've been inspected, cross-referenced against lists of actual inspections?

If it turns out that the registry is abetting theft, then I'd hope that the solution is less focused on restricting gun owners, and more focused on fixing the registry - up to and including the delete button...

[gejohnston]

3. There have been targeted thefts in other states

WA and Tasmania where thieves take the whole safe.

[petronius]

4. Hmm, I didn't know that. I would say that, if the state requires information to be

recorded and then loses control of that info, the state should certainly bear responsibility for whatever nefarious outcomes result from that loss of privacy. And the negative outcomes need to be balanced against whatever benefits accrue from the registry...