Membership Card required to legally carry or posses a Sword
Ziranmen Kung Fu Academy Membership Cards
All instructors and students training any weapon form need to carry a membership card when ever your sword is in your possession and presented with photo ID if requested by police.
As you will all be aware, it is now illegal to own or carry a sword or to practice any martial art with a sword unless you have an exemption subject to requirements in the state of Victoria. Ziranmen Kung Fu Academy is an organisational member of the Wushu & Tai Chi Practitioners Association has a class exemption to carry, train and perform with a prohibited weapon.
Membership cards are mandatory and can be obtained from Ralph Spethmann during class. A fee of $5 covers you till the end of each financial year.
ALL PRACTITIONER MEMBERS & INSTRUCTOR MEMBERS (Obtaining cover by the WTPA exemption)
18 or Over:
MAY Bring into Victoria, cause to be brought or sent into Victoria, display advertise for sale, sell, purchase, possess, use or carry a sword.
PURPOSE
Study and participate in the practice of the martial art in which the martial arts organisation specialises; or
study, collect and display a sword with an historical or cultural significance that relates to the martial art in which the martial arts organisation specialises.
Under 18:
MAY Possess, use or carry a sword.
PURPOSE
Study and participate in the practice of the martial art in which the martial arts organisation specialises; or
study, collect and display a sword with an historical or cultural significance that relates to the martial art in which the martial arts organisation specialises.
SUBJECT TO:
General conditions
Use: The sword must only be used for the purposesfor which the exemption was granted and must be used in the practice of the martial arts discipline in which the organisation specialises.
Storage: When not being used for the purposes specified in this Order, swords must be stored safely and securely.*
Inspectiononrequest:**
Recordofpossession:Apersonseekingtorelyonthis exemption must maintain a record of the quantity and types of swords in their possession. ***
Record of sale: A person seeking to rely on this exemption who sells a sword must keep a record of the sale. ****
Display: *****
Persons aged under 18: A person under the age of 18 is not permitted to purchase any prohibited weapon including a sword. ******
Prohibited persons: This Order does not apply to a person who is a prohibited person as defined in section 3 of the Control of Weapons Act 1990, regardless of whether that person is a member of a class or classes of persons specified in Column 1 of the Table. *******
A Specified Organisation must issue to each of its members, instructors or students who possesses, uses or carries a sword in accordance with this Order a membership card showing the person’s name and membership number or other unique identifier, and any other details required by the Specified Organisation.
When carrying or transporting a sword in public to and from a class or competition, a member, instructor or student of a Specified Organisation must at all times carry his or her membership card as well as evidence of identity that includes a photograph, such as a driver’s licence or passport, unless the person is aged under 18 years, in which case he or she is only required to carry his or her membership card.
A member of a Specified Organisation who is participating in a class or competition must ensure his or her membership card is readily accessible nearby while participating or competing, for example by keeping the membership card in a bag, cupboard or locker located nearby.
Notes
* ‘stored safely and securely’ means:
(a) stored in a manner calculated to ensure that the sword:
(i) is not readily accessible to a person other than the person seeking to
rely on the exemption; and
(ii) is not available for possession, carriage or use by any person who does not belong to a class of exempt persons specified in the above Table or who does not hold an approval issued by the Chief Commissioner of Police; and
(b) when being transported between the sword’s usual place of storage and places at which the sword is legitimately used in accordance with this Order:
(i) stored in a manner calculated to ensure that the sword is not readily accessible to a person other than the person seeking to rely on the exemption; and
ii) concealed from plain sight during transportation.
** A person seeking to rely on this exemption must, on request, permit a member of the police force to inspect his or her storage arrangements at any reasonable pre-arranged time
*** These records must be kept for the duration of operation of the exemption and must be made available to a member of the police force for inspection at any reasonable pre- arranged time.
**** The record must be in the form and manner prescribed under the Control
of Weapons Act 1990, and must be kept for 3 years after the sale. A member of the police force at any reasonable time may require the person to produce the record for inspection.
***** A person seeking to rely on this exemption to display a sword with an historical or cultural significance must ensure that the display occurs in the person’s residential home or at an official event associated with the organisation of which the person is a member (being an organisation specified in Column 1 in the above Table), and that the display is only made for purposes genuinely associated with the study and collection of swords with historical or cultural significance.
****** A person under the age of 18 is not permitted to purchase any prohibited weapon including a sword. However, a person aged under 18 years who belongs to a class of exempt person specified in this Order may lawfully possess, use or carry a sword subject to the terms and conditions of the exemption.
******* Prohibited persons:
This Order does not apply to a person who is a prohibited person as defined in section 3 of the Control of Weapons Act 1990 1, regardless of whether that person is a member of a class or classes of persons specified in Column 1 of the Table.
( 1 prohibited person has the same meaning as in section 3(1) of the Firearms Act 1996; an extract is available on the WTPA Website)
Government Gazette No. G23 of 5 June 2014 at the following link:
