By Luke Voogt
Geelong shooters are inadvertently advertising their gun ownership to thieves, a veteran instructor has warned.
Lara’s Rob Loricco said licensed owners showing their love of shooting through social media or bumper stickers were putting themselves at risk.
“Don’t put Winchester stickers on your vehicles because undesirables who see them are going to follow you to your home,” he said.
Mr Loricco also cautioned owners against posting hunting photos and gun photos online.
“It doesn’t even have to be you taking the photo and putting it up,” he said.
“You might not even have a Facebook account but people can still identify you.”
The lifelong shooter has trained more than 150 people prior to them applying for their gun licence as a firearms safety officer for Victoria Police.
But Victoria’s firearms safety course lacked any social media training for new shooters, Mr Loricco said.
“The presentation which we’re using at the moment has been in existence for a number of years.”
Mr Loricco instead instructed new owners “verbally” from his own notes on the dangers of advertising their weapons.
But his system was set to change after he joined a team including Victoria Police District Firearms Officers (DFO) rewriting the course, Mr Loricco said.
Social media awareness would become an important part of the new course, he said.
Williamstown DFO Leading Senior Constable Anita Harraway, who works with Mr Loricco, said she had seen a rise in firearm thefts involving victims who had advertised their ownership.
“We’re getting more and more burglaries where it appears offenders are targeting just the firearms.”
Mr Loricco’s warning followed a 35 per cent rise in Geelong firearms offences in the past year.
Earlier this year police reported increases in prohibited persons carrying firearms, often stolen and exchanged for drugs.
Geelong DFO Senior Constable John Dunstan said police had noted a recent “lull” in thefts of firearms but that gun-related offences were always a concern in Geelong.
Sen Const Dunstan urged licensed owners to be responsible and prevent their weapons from falling into the wrong hands.
“My take on it is that there’s no need to advertise you have a gun,” he said.
“You wouldn’t advertise you’ve got $10,000 under your bed in a shoebox, would you?”
