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Police spike bikies' gunsBy Nick Taylor
July 31, 2006 12:00am
WA POLICE have claimed a victory in their battle against outlaw bikie gangs,
with a leading Coffin Cheater refused permission to own guns.
Police will use the precedent-setting decision to block any further firearm
applications by bikies.
It is understood only one other WA bikie has a firearms licence and police will
be investigating whether they can now have it revoked.
Seven years ago, police seized Howard Wignall's guns in an armed raid on his
Broome home.
In the late 1990s, they revoked Coffin Cheaters' gun licences during the gang
war between the Cheaters and Club Deroes.
Mr Wignall, 43, who now lives at South Yunderup, described himself in the State
Administrative Tribunal - where he was appealing a police rejection of his
firearms licence application - as a fit and proper person who wanted the guns
back only for pig-shooting and vermin control.
But the tribunal decided otherwise, saying it would not readily endorse his
self-assessment as an honest person.
The tribunal said that because Mr Wignall was a long-standing member of the
Coffin Cheaters, maintained a loyalty to a gang that has members with extensive
criminal records and has an extensive record, he was not a fit and proper person
to hold a licence.
His convictions "shattered" any claim he could make that the community would
regard him as an honest person.
Mr Wignall, who has been a Coffin Cheater since 1986 in the Perth, Broome and
Mandurah chapters, had held a firearms licence since he was 16, until it was
revoked in 1999.
Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan opposed Mr Wignall's appeal because of his
convictions and his membership of the Coffin Cheaters. He said there was
potential for further violence between gangs.
Acting commissioner Chris Dawson said the decision had vindicated their
position.
"The tribunal found that not only was this individual not a fit and proper
person to hold a firearms licence, but the ruling would appear to extend to all
members of the Coffin Cheaters," he said.
"In light of this decision, police will continue to closely examine any future
applications for firearms licences by members of outlaw bikie gangs."
