GP reluctance to decide firearms applications fully understandable after Labor lie

Member of the state upper house Dr Steve Thomas has used parliamentary questions to confirm that local doctors would be decision makers for patients applying for a firearms licence under the new Labor state system.

“The Government has not only vilified and demonised honest and legitimate firearms owners, it has now demanded that the medical profession do their dirty work for them” Dr Thomas said.

The WA Labor Government had been quoted  in the media saying that “GPs are not decision-makers in relation to the grant of a firearm’s authority……This still sits with the Commissioner of Police”.

“That is an outright lie” Dr Thomas said.

“As my questions in Parliament prove, doctors do not submit a medical report to the Police for assessment and decision, they are forced to submit an “outcome only”.

“That outcome will be a yes or a no, making GPs and medical practitioners an absolute decision maker.

“Applicants will then face a second “decision maker” in the WA Police, but only after they pass the first one.

“I think any GP would think twice about being a part of a system that makes them responsible for whether a licence application is successful or not.

“The Government is expecting doctors to examine people in detail according to their 17 page instruction book, which demands an incredibly detailed assessment of the mental, physical and emotional condition of the applicant.

“Any doctor that misses a single symptom, whether or not it has any impact on the person’s ability to handle a firearm, is surely putting their own reputation at risk.

 “And that may lead to issues around professional indemnity and insurance down the track.

 “More likely, doctors will simply refuse to do the assessments, and I have already been presented with this by concerned constituents.

 “This is just one more example of a Government that does not give a damn about those honest people who have a legitimate need to use firearms; in fact, it demonstrates it perfectly” Dr Thomas said.