The announcement comes after national cabinet discussed a stronger Australia-wide gun register on Friday,sparked by the fatal shooting of Queensland police officers by extremist conspiracy theorists in December last year.
Mental health checks will be mandatory for WA gun ownership.Greg Newington
In 2022,20 people were shot dead in WA and the government says the new laws will put community safety first.
Police investigations found evidence that suggested mental health played a role in almost 50 per cent of those 20 firearm-related deaths,which Police Minister Paul Papalia said was proof WA’s outdated gun laws needed to be completely reworked.
“If 20 people were all gunned down in a public place,we would rightfully call it a massacre. The fact is,20 Western Australians were killed by firearms last year. Police believe mental health may have been a factor in almost 50 per cent of those deaths,” he said on Sunday.
“The extensive,initial round of consultation conducted by police has revealed strong support for this initiative among farmers,the medical community,and victims of firearms violence. Police will continue to work closely with these important stakeholders to refine the regulations.”
Papalia stressed the policy would not be discriminatory towards people living with mental health conditions.
“Many people in our society have lived with mental health challenges at some stage in their lives and most people living with mental health issues are not violent and pose no threat to anyone,” he said.
“Introducing compulsory mental health screening for firearm owners increases the chance of identifying someone who should not be granted access to a firearm for safety reasons. It also decreases the chance of that person doing harm to themselves or others.
“If mental illness is identified during the application process,we want it to be an opportunity and a pathway for the individual to receive the support they need.
“This is an Australian first. We believe this and other initiatives we are working on will help save lives,make our community safer,and make the job safer for our police officers.”
The announcement drew criticism from the National Shooting Council which will write to WA MPs urging them to reject the laws.
Council spokesman Peter Zabrdac said firearm-related deaths were most often not involving people with gun licences.
“The aim of this minister is to stop shooters from engaging in what they do”,he said.
“It is a measure aimed at stopping clay target shooting,stopping target shooting,stopping farmers from being able to control vermin,all because of a naïve and cruel perception that shooters are criminals in waiting.”
“Yet this was the same minister who let which will encourage gun theft”
At Friday’s national cabinet,the country’s top law officers agreed to investigate options to set up a strengthened national gun register after the
Constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow were killed alongside Alan Dare after visiting the Wieambilla property inhabited by brothers Nathaniel and Gareth Train,along with Gareth’s wife Stacey,in December.
WA Premier Mark McGowan said the national register proposal “has to happen”.
“We have to have fewer guns in our community and we have to have more easy tracing and tracking of guns across our community ... it’s a no-brainer,” he told reporters in Canberra.
Australian Federal Police Association president Alex Caruana said the organisation “strongly supports” the decision to plan a national firearms registry and had been campaigning for the database since 2019.
“If the national database comes to fruition,every police officer will have accurate firearms information in real-time,making their job immeasurably safer,” he said.
With Hamish Hastie,Matt Dennien and AAP