Victorian Police have charged a 60-year-old man and seized 278 firearms after an inspection of his gun collection deemed him not to be a fit and proper person to hold a firearms licence.
The Brunswick West man was charged with 13 counts of possess unregistered firearm, traffick firearms and 17 counts of fail to produce firearm upon request.
A notice of Suspension of Firearms Licence with intention to cancel was also served on him.
He was bailed to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on 30 May.
Police will allege a number of the man’s firearms were not registered, could not be identified, were bearing incorrect serial numbers and a number of firearms were unable to be located.
Following further investigation into the missing and unaccounted for firearms, an additional inspection was carried out by Police at the man’s Brunswick West address last week.
“A total of 278 firearms were seized from the property, including revolvers, semi automatic handguns and antique handguns,” Victoria Police said in a statement.
“The firearms will be stored by police until a judgement regarding their disposal can be made by the court.
P”olice would like to remind licensed firearms owners to be aware of the legislation with regards to the storage of their firearms.”
Further information is available on the Victoria Police website: Firearm storage | Safekeeping of guns and firearms | Victoria Police.
