Community Safety Network - safe firearm storage

While he also organises monthly firearm safety courses and completes address checks on gun holders, Officer Pegg said there was a lot to know about owning a firearm.

"I’m supposedly considered the expert and they come to me for the advice whether it's storage, whether it's licensing — it basically comes down to anything to do with firearms," he said.

Moving to Greater Shepparton in the 1970s as part of a family interested in firearms and hunting, Officer Pegg said gun usage was an accepted part of the community.

While it was common for locals to own a shotgun, rifle and a couple of fishing rods, he said thefts and burglaries were a less common occurrence.

"It was an accepted part of the community and today it still really is, it just depends on the other element like burglaries and things like that," Officer Pegg said.

"That's where we try to push the message to lock your guns up and comply with the regulations."

Dealing with gun owners on a daily basis, Officer Pegg said safe firearm storage was one of the main issues he encountered.

With licence holders often owning multiple firearms worth up to thousands of dollars each, he said secure and compliant storage cabinets were a must.

Victorian requirements currently state firearm storage cabinets must be made of steel or wood and not easily accessible.

"We can have a storage facility that meets the requirements whereby it says it's made of steel or wood and not easily accessible but someone’s always got a way of getting in there," he said.

"Whereas if you go and spend the money and buy a purpose-made gun safe and install it correctly we’ve probably got an 80% chance of keeping them at home instead of getting burgled."

Ensuring firearm cabinets weighing less than 150kg are bolted to the floor and surrounding walls is also important.

"Unfortunately a lot of the burglaries these days aren’t the fact that they break into the gun cabinet, it is that they take the whole thing and deal with it later ... it's not a matter of how good your cabinet is, it's how well it's secured," Officer Pegg said.

The location of storage facilities at people's homes is also an issue, with many owners storing their guns in their tool shed, workshop or garage.

With tools and equipment nearby that can be used to break open the cabinet, Officer Pegg reminded owners these guns were "more susceptible to theft".

He urged gun owners to think about and spend money on where they store their firearms, ensuring they are not visible from the street and cannot be seen through a window.

"If you’re going to buy firearms, whether it’s a $500 firearm or whether it’s a $3000 one, spend the money and buy a purpose-built gun locker constructed for that purpose," he said.

"You as a licence holder don’t want to have that firearm stolen out of your cabinet used against you, your family or somebody else."