Hamilton police seize fake gun, drugs from home

South-west police have seized a cache of imitation firearms in the past month and while they don't fire real ammunition, they do resemble real pistols, rifles and machine guns.

A 26-year-old Hamilton man was last week charged with gun and weapon offences after cannabis and a fake gun were allegedly discovered at his home.

Following an investigation, detectives searched a King Street home on Thursday morning and allegedly located 20 grams of cannabis and an imitation firearm.

Detective Senior Constable Scott Lenehan, of the Hamilton police crime investigation unit, said the fake firearm was a gel blaster which discharged small pellets of gel.

The pellets are usually discharged by way of a battery-operated device that compresses a spring.

The device is not a firearm but Senior Constable Lenehan said it looked "very real" and could reasonably be mistaken for a functional assault rifle.

The detective said that if imitation firearms fell into the hands of the wrong person, it could create unnecessary fear in the community.

The incident comes after imitation firearms were seized in raids over three consecutive days across the south-west last month.

Items seized included a gel gun, an imitation sawn-off shogun, an imitation rifle, a gel AK47 style machine gun and an imitation handgun.

And while some products may have been manufactured to be toys, they had the overall appearance of a firearm and could reasonably be mistaken for an operable firearm.

A Larralea man was last month jailed for four months after he was caught with a stash of hand-crafted weapons, including a nerf gun capable of firing .22 calibre ammunition which he said was "just a toy".

But magistrate Franz Holzer said "anything capable of firing is capable of causing injury or death".

"Manufacturing anything in this kind of context is surprising at best and stupid at worst," he said.

"These are weapons that, in the wrong hands, could kill someone. That's not going to happen on my watch in this region."

Victoria Police said that as a general rule, toy firearms are considered items that resemble firearms, but cannot reasonably be mistaken as working firearms by the general public, and do not have the same functionality.

Imitation firearms are classified as prohibited weapons.

Owners of prohibited weapons do not require a firearms licence, but do require a Chief Commissioner's Prohibited Weapons Approval unless they are subject to a Governor in Council Exemption.

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