Options for the National Firearms Register were informed by feedback provided by the firearms community and the Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia (SSAA National).
The Police Ministers Council agreed to these options in early June in preparation for the National Cabinet to consider in the next few months.
SSAA National will be able to provide a more comprehensive update on how this will look post National Cabinet.
As government continues with this process, SSAA National remains in regular contact with relevant departments and entities such as the Attorney-General’s Department and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.
Communication between the Attorney-General’s Department Firearms and Illicit Drugs Section and SSAA National has been ongoing since the election of the Albanese Labor Government in 2022 as a part of continued efforts to advocate, protect and promote firearm owners’ interests. These relationships, which allow SSAA National, the Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia (SIFA) and other likeminded groups to collaborate on constructive outcomes with the government and prevent the occurrence of unintended consequences from policy decisions, are vital to ensuring our future.
Public submissions on the concept of a National Firearm Register were called for in April after Australia’s state and territory police ministers were tasked with investigating options by National Cabinet earlier this year.
Talks of a National Register began in the first few months of 2023 in the wake of a series of tragic events in rural Queensland in December 2022, when an act of domestic terrorism involving unlicensed people acting illegally with firearms resulted in tragic losses of lives. The kneejerk commentary that followed these events called for firearms law reform. As details of law enforcement access to firearms licensing details came to light, the tune of the conversation changed to a perceived need for a National Firearms Register, which would allow police from all jurisdictions to access firearms licensee details with more ease than they can at present.