eKourier April 2019

FEATURE

AUSTRALIA

monitoring for the Gun Room area only – an important security feature of any of the Gun Storage locations. The Gun Lockers are housed in a custom built cement block wall, floor and ceiling room separate to the rest of the general storage area. Legislative regulations govern that Gun Room walls must be solid enough to be a substantial physical barrier to entry points and that door locks fitted must reduce the possibility of a door being sprung from the jamb. Customer access is 24/7 via a designated PIN which allows for gun storers only to access the area. Each individual custom built Gun Locker is constructed of a 12mm x 300mm PFC steel frame fixed by internal locker Dyna bolts to the concrete floor and walls. A 6mm checker plate base is then secured onto the floor within the frame itself. To avoid any tampering or security issues, MUX boxes are now located internally within the Gun Storage room, lights are operated by sensors to any specific time limit, internal and external individually alarmed entrance doors being monitored by camera security, and any power sockets and cabling are also housed internally. Confusing! Hopefully, the same goes for any illegal activity that may occur on-site. With these added improvements in the Gun Storage structure and security features, it will now see any future Gun Storage expansions compliant with the Gun Self Storage Industry. DID YOU KNOW? IFA GUN LOCKER ISUSED FOR STORING FIREARMS AND WEIGHS LESS THAN 150KG , IT MUST BE SECURELY FIXED TO THE FRAME OR FLOOR OF A PERMANENT BUILDING .

items to your local Police Station, is deemed illegal. As a consequence, it is clear that during any delinquency period when a customer’s padlock needs to be removed (after 43 days) for inventory purposes, you must first contact your local Firearms Officer or Police Station Officer to be on-site during such procedures. Another concern is the safety of our Teams as any firearm would need to be cleared before removal to ensure that the firearm is not loaded. We have a duty of care for our Team Members, therefore having an officer on site during this process complies with safety standards. If you do cut a delinquents lock the Police Officer on site will take immediate possession of the firearm. It is quite intriguing that legislation in Queensland requires Gun Storage Operators to have a Gun Dealers or Weapon Dealers Licence where more than 10 Gun Lockers are located in a designated Gun storage room. It also requires storage operators to communi- cate to Police directly when a firearm is taken or returned at a storage centre. GUN LOCKER ROOM AND LOCKER SPECIFICATIONS The Kennards Gun Cabinets are heavy gauged steel Firearm Lockers constructed and made specifically to comply with the Australian Firearms Act. With designated Kennards Gun Storage Centre’s in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Newcastle, local State Divisional Firearm Officers (DFO) have passed, in accordance with the Act, each of the Kennards Gun Storage facilities and storage designs. This is an important process in having a Gun Storage facility on site. Recent improvements to construc- tion have seen a greater emphasis on access security with the installa- tion of new steel enforced entrance door designs. Each Gun Room has sensor activity monitoring, all carpeted to specific design standards, and controlled with back-to-base security

In all Australian States Gun Legislation is quite specific: - Any individual Gun Locker must be kept locked at all times other than for the time to remove/replace firearms. - Firearms must be unloaded and the bolt be removed or action broken when stored in a storage centre. The bolt is a major component and is subject to the same storage requirements as the firearm. It can be stored with the firearm. - Ammunition must be stored in a secure separate locker or compartment to the firearm. - A Gun Locker must have a sturdy combination lock, keyed lock or keyed padlock attachment. The Kennards Gun Cabinets are heavy gauged steel firearm lockers constructed and made specifi- cally to comply with the Australian Firearms Act. Due to the nature of the items in question (firearms) there are certain legal ramifications concerning firearm possession under the Firearms Act. The fact is we cannot take posses- sion (after cutting a lock) of a firearm under any circumstances without the presence of your local Firearms Officer or a local Police Officer. Under the Act, it is deemed to be a criminal offence to handle/take possession of any firearm without an independent or individual Gun Licence (which in the majority of cases self storage Teams do not have). The seizure and handling of firearms whilst on-site or during transit of such ‘

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Wayne Birch VIC & SA Operations Manager

11 Kennards Kourier April 2019