Extremism expert Ben Rich warns taking guns from sovereign citizens could harden views further

The mass seizure of guns from WA sovereign citizens could harden their views even further, an expert claims, as one self-proclaimed “sheriff” warned the black-market for firearms could “explode”. Police Commissioner Col Blanch ordered a five-day operation targeting sovereign citizens that saw 135 firearms confiscated and 44 licences suspended in the wake of Dezi Freeman’s cold-blooded murders of two police officers in Victoria. Curtin Extremism Research Network director Ben Rich said the confiscation of guns from the fringe group would “certainly lead to a further sense of betrayal that will potentially harden views even further”. “I think it will confirm a lot of their pre-existing views about government overreach, particularly if they feel like, they haven’t done anything that’s illegal,” he said. “It will potentially harden views even further, sort of in the same way that we saw the sovereign citizen movement get energised by the experience of lockdowns and having some liberties taken away under those conditions. “It’s not rocket science to say that . . one will lead to the other.” Dr Rich did not want to predict whether it could lead to more politically-charged violence. “It’s more a series of anti-authority ideas kind of floating around and people sort of lumping into it, but not in a way that’s sort of coherent community or coherent political project.” The police operation — codenamed Ascendant — came following weeks of intelligence gathering, involving data analysts and officers from the secretive State security investigation group. Mandy Seneno, a self-anointed “sheriff” from the Sovereign Peoples Assembly of WA, said the “black market in guns” was going to be “horrific” after firearms were taken from people. “We are inundated with people at the end of their tether, so they (the police) want to be very, very thankful that we’re walking with them,” she said. “And that is what I did say to (a police officer) the other day, that by taking lawful guns, law abiding citizens guns, the black market explodes. “Maybe they shoot themselves in the foot, but when it comes to us we don’t need our guns — we’ve got the pen. “And that’s not the answer, I certainly wouldn’t use a firearm to fix any problem. It’s not beneficial for anybody, you know, at the end of the day.” Mr Blanch said anybody who did not follow the laws set by Parliament and who aligned themselves with sovereign citizen ideologies, was not a fit and proper person to hold a firearms licence. He said it was his duty under the new Firearms Act to establish those who were fit and proper to have a firearm. Mr Blanch distanced sovereign citizens from law-abiding gun owners on Sunday, saying the targeted individuals were a “very small number of people that often have mental illness or have been radicalised online who believe that the authorities are coming to get them.” “They believe we are coming to get them that is high risk for police, and that is exactly what we have seen in those last six murders (on police officers around the country)“ He said that there was a risk the seizures could infuriate sovereign citizens, but that the enforcement was what he believed the ‘broader community of Western Australia” expected. Mr Blanch said guns were taken and licences were cancelled after police verified information that individuals were associated with a so-called sovereign citizen group, understood to include correspondence between an individual from SPAWA and the courts. He added that police were continuing to focus on on organised criminals amid scrutiny about police overreach following the seizures. “We have a massive contingent of WA Police who focus purely on illegal firearms, drugs, threatening and violent behavior in our streets by criminals,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, we work pretty hard on them, and we take them off the street all the time.”