THE hearings on the review of the WA Firearms Act by the Standing Committee on Legislation have now concluded, with the final appearance this week by the Police Commissioner.
Since the hearings began and the first witnesses delivered their submissions on September 10, we have watched with interest the varying levels of professionalism and subject matter expertise from the limited number of representatives who were afforded the opportunity to speak directly with the committee members.
The committee, chaired by Labor MLC Dr Katrina Stratton and comprising four other Members of the Legislative Council, has been tasked with the complex job of dissecting the major issues being highlighted by the introduction of the WA Firearms Act 2024.
In-camera appearances now available to view on the Parliament of WA -Committees link were conducted by respected Western Australian shooting organisations, including but not limited to the Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia (SSAA) WA, health professionals, community safety advocates, farmers and pastoralists, a firearm dealer, traditional owners, government agencies, and WA Police. These sessions, held in September, consisted of seven separate, hour-long meetings. The SSAA WA presented several key points in its preliminary written submission to the committee, following accepted practice that recognises the capabilities and time constraints of a parliamentary committee and the amount of information they can process.
Reinstate the genuine reason for recreational shooting
The National Firearms Agreement endorses and recognises the genuine reason for individuals to seek the licensing of a Category A or Category B firearm in Section (15) (a) titled Recreational shooters/hunters “recreational shooters/hunters must produce a proof of permission from a landowner”.
The LRCWA Project 105 Review of the Firearms Act-Final Report accepts and maintains to this day in its final recommendation No. 60 “the legislation should specifically provide for the case where a person may wish to hunt or shoot recreationally on his or her own property and that the applicant is required to produce written evidence that he/she owns, occupies or manages the land”.
The WA Firearms Act 2024 states ironically that one of its principle aims and objects is to “facilitate a nationally consistent approach to the control of firearms”, yet without any objective reasoning or evidence to suggest that the removal of recreational shooting could be substantiated as a genuine reason. We are now left with the genuine reasons for owning a firearm as “hunting” or “competition” only. Not everyone seeking to licence a firearm wants to kill animals or join a club.
Junior licence
States including New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and South Australia provide a regulated framework for young people to apply for a minors permit or a junior licence for many years.
This pragmatic approach to the regulation of people under the age of 18 to receive instruction in the safe use of a firearm and/or participate in shooting events has never resulted in any evidence of misuse of a firearm and ensures the safety of the community under controlled conditions.
Category C for competitions
WA sportsmen and sportswomen in several internationally-affiliated shooting disciplines have long been provided with the opportunity to licence and use firearms of a similar working function that primary producers continue to have access to when competing, practising, and training at approved shooting clubs. Multiple-shot air rifles valued at more than $7000 and used by competitors in the internationally acclaimed Rifle Metallic Silhouette discipline are not available to competitors from WA, putting them at an extreme disadvantage when competing for national and international team selection. This issue can be simply repaired with a sensible reinsertion of the regulation that was removed in the construction of the new laws for no sound reason.
Storage matrix
SSAA has led the way in educating the licenced firearm community for decades with its “Secure your Gun-Secure your Sport” campaign. The new storage matrix added to the firearms regulations, based on “occupied” and “unoccupied” locations, has become a significant financial strain on thousands of existing licence holders. SSAA WA supports all measures to safeguard the community from firearm theft. However, the fact that it seems the regulator was so overconfident during the development of the laws that they forgot to include the simple word “steel” when describing the material cabinets should be made from highlights how rushed the legislation has been.
Firearm limits
Recommendation #54 of the LRCWA Project 105 Review of the Firearms Act -Final Report sets down the commissioners view that “there should be no upper limit on the number of firearms a single firearm owner may possess”. No other jurisdiction has seen fit to impose this unheralded power over its law-abiding citizens, provided the applicant can satisfy the genuine reason and genuine need test for every firearm.
At the hearing on Friday, September 22, Police Commissioner Col Blanch stated that 61,315 licensed firearms had been surrendered to the WA Police over the course of five buybacks. The largest percentage of these hand-backs can be attributed to the limits on the number of firearms a person can now own, resulting in many cases of historical and family heirlooms, as well as essential pieces of military history being destroyed.
The Committee will provide its final report to the parliament on October 16, 2025.
By PAUL FITZGERALD
State President Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia (SSAA) WA