A leading Perth lawyer has backed in WA Police’s move to seize more than 100 guns from “sovereign citizens” across the state, adding he did not believe there would be much sympathy for people who did not acknowledge the law having weapons taken from them.
Police have laid a string of charges stemming from a series of raids conducted last week in an operation sparked by the shooting deaths of two Victorian officers.
This masthead revealed on Saturday police had conducted raids throughout suburban Perth and regional WA for five days, on people who had expressed sovereign citizen ideologies in line with that of Victorian man Dezi Freeman.
A sovereign citizen believes they are not subject to the law or government authority, and Freeman had previously expressed sovereign citizen beliefs before allegedly shooting two police officers dead in August.
Police said 70 searches were done on properties around WA throughout the week, which resulted in the seizure of 135 firearms and the suspension of more than 40 gun licenses.
Police confirmed on Sunday they had laid a number of charges over the seizures, and many involved breaches of WA’s strict new gun laws.
A cross bow.Credit: Police Media
All up, police have issued charges of failing to store a firearm in a compliant cabinet, three counts of unlawfully possessing ammunition, two counts of possessing prohibited accessory – that is, suppressors – one count of failing to secure ammunition, one count of possessing cannabis and one count of cultivating cannabis.
Police also issued one charge of possessing a controlled weapon – namely, a crossbow.
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