Victims advocate praises tough SA gun laws

South Australia's Victims of Crime Commissioner says new legislation will help stop guns falling into the wrong hands.

Plans to crack down on the supply of illegal firearms in South Australia will help prevent shooting deaths, the state's victims advocate says.

Anyone who supplies an illegal gun which is then used in a criminal offence, including murder, will be charged with being an accessory to that crime under legislation proposed by the government.

The legislation will include measures announced in July providing for mandatory jail terms for anyone caught selling a firearm without a licence or to an unlicensed buyer.

Victims of Crime Commissioner Michael O'Connell says the new laws will help prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands.

"It's the accessibility of firearms that is at the crux of the problem," he told ABC radio on Monday.

"Anything that reduces the number of firearms that are available to people, particularly those with the potential to do harm, to me seems to be a good thing."

The tough new laws follow the recent shooting murders of two Adelaide men.

Christopher Robert Mieglich, 21, was described as mentally fragile when he murdered his 56-year-old father and attempted to kill another man in 2012 with a sawn-off rifle he bought at a pub.

Liam Humbles, then aged 17, was meanwhile judged to be grossly intoxicated when he shot 18-year-old Lewis McPherson as he walked into a New Year's Eve party in June 2012.

The man who illegally supplied Humbles with the gun, Charles Alexander Cullen, was jailed in October for eight years.

Handing down the sentence, District Court Judge Paul Muscat said all firearms should be banned, with their use restricted to licensed shooting ranges.

Attorney-General John Rau said the new legislation would give SA some of the toughest firearm laws in the country.

The legislation includes a presumption against a suspended sentence, as well as a presumption against bail being granted for those charged with serious firearms offences.


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