East Coast firearms owners are advised that the St Helens Mobile Firearm Amnesty will be held this weekend.

The amnesty will be held on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 February between 10am and 4pm at the St Helens District High School’s general purpose room (access off Groom Street).

“Police will be on site to greet you and offer assistance to ensure the safe transition of the firearms and any ammunition, from your possession to ours.  If the firearm is unregistered you won’t even have to provide details,” said Acting Sergeant Shepherd.

“Anyone with unwanted, unregistered or illegal firearms or any ammunition can bring them to this location and hand them to the officers there. There will be no penalty for illegal possession.

“All items will be accepted by police without question and destroyed,” he said.

Mobile Amnesty days have proven very successful in other regional areas of Tasmania recently.

“Firearms are an important part of farming life but there is no place in small communities for illegal firearms,” said Acting Sergeant Shepherd.

“We are bringing this service to regional communities so that the risk of that firearm falling into the wrong hands, is removed,” he said.

“The majority of people don’t set out to have an unregistered firearm; it can happen due to circumstances they had limited control over.

“This service puts the control back into their hands, providing a controlled environment for the correct disposal of firearms and ammunition.”

As an additional important part of the service, officers will also able to provide advice about storage and registration.