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Tougher gun laws pass Vic upper house

A Victoria government bill cracking down on gun crime has passed the state's Legislative Council with minor amendments.

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Source: AAP


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Tougher gun laws targeting gang members, bikies and terrorists have passed Victoria's upper house.

Under the laws, police will be able to impose a firearm prohibition order on someone as young as 14, banning them from acquiring or carrying a gun and meaning they can be searched without a warrant.

The orders would target those with a history of crime, criminal association or who posed a risk to public safety.

The Andrews Labor government bill passed the Legislative Council on Tuesday night with an amendment to allow shooters to sell firearms online without a dealer.

The amendment was brought on by the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party and the bill needs to return to the lower house for final approval.

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Premier Daniel Andrews earlier labelled the legislation a "game changer" for police and said it should pass without amendment.

The government also accused the coalition of stalling the bill but this was labelled a "desperate lie" by opposition leader Matthew Guy.

"We will move some amendments but if they do not get up we will vote for it," he said earlier on Tuesday.

One of the proposed changes was to reduce the time frame of an order from 10 to five years for adults.

Mr Guy said the government had the opportunity to pass the legislation at the end of last year but didn't.

Police Minister Lisa Neville disagreed, and said she wanted "to give the opposition every opportunity for this to be a bipartisan supported piece of legislation".

Police had been consulted over some minor changes that "they could live with" but the opposition rejected it, she also said.


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