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Tasmania Police representatives have told an inquiry into the state's firearm regulations the organisation deals with up to 400 concerns about firearm safety regarding licence-holders with mental health or violence issues at any one time. Police also raised issues with the flow of licence renewals, which they said peaked at 18,000 during a five-year period, and difficulties in granting renewals due to legal restrictions. Hearings into the state's firearm laws recommenced on Friday. Tasmania Police manager of firearm services, Kerry Shepherd, said a special unit dealt with concerns of access to firearms to people with mental health or family violence history, delivered to police by members of the public, general practitioners, or officers themselves. "We have about 300 or 400 matters under management at any one point of time," he said. "The difficult thing isn't always the first decision is to remove the firearm but to return the firearm and when the right time to do so is." He said police would generally return a firearm to somebody with mental health issues after reports from a psychologist and general practitioner. Assistant-Commissioner Jonathan Higgins said there was a problem with a two-week grace period introduced under firearms legislation to provide licence holders with additional time to renew after the expiry of their licence. "Unfortunately the change does not provide the Commissioner with the ability to use discretion when making a determination on the renewal application," he said. "Further, there are issues that could have community safety implications if the legislation was reviewed. "For example, there is no requirement for a medical practitioner to refuse Firearm Services if they refuse to provide a report which refuses an applicant possessing firearms." Police told the inquiry there needed to be a staggered approach for licence renewals supported by additional resources. They said renewals averaged out at 3500 per year until it peaked at 18,000 at the end of a five-year period which caused delays. There are about 35,000 licence holders in Tasmania. Gun Control Australia spokesman Roland Browne told the inquiry Tasmania had a firearms committee without any apparent stated objective. "In our view, it was set up to appease shooters and give them an avenue to express dissatisfaction with firearms laws," he said. Mr Browne said he had been asked to participate in the consultative committee but declined. He said this was because he didn't believe he had the technical experience and regarded people with experience in violence in the home, criminologists, and conservationists better suited for roles.

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