A report from Queensland Parliament’s Justice, Integrity and Community Safety Committee has formally recommended the state’s new gun laws be passed — and it’s relatively good news for shooters.
Normally a lead like this would be followed by details of the terrible new restrictions gun owners would now have to live with, but Queensland Premier David Crisafulli and Police Minister Dan Purdie have made it clear their focus is criminals and terrorists, which is reflected in the Fighting Antisemitism and Keeping Guns Out of the Hands of Terrorists and Criminals Amendment Bill 2026.
As far as most responsible firearms owners go, there are essentially no major changes contained in the bill.
There are no caps on how many firearms someone can own, no re-categorisations of firearms to impossible-to-obtain categories, no magazine restrictions, no calibre restrictions, and no action restrictions beyond those already in place.
The major change for the average gun owner is the removal of timber cabinets as a secure storage option, and the requirement to be an Australian citizen to hold a gun licence — and even that aspect has some important exemptions, notably for competition target shooting and for occupational purposes as well.
The committee report quotes extensively from shooting organisations including SSAA Queensland, Shooters Union and Firearms Owners United.
The dissenting report from Queensland Labor and Greens MPs rather pointedly makes note of this, and criticises the Crisafulli Government for daring to listen to people who actually know something about the responsible ownership and use of firearms.
Shooters Union Australia president Graham Park said while he was pleased the bill was set to pass, there were still some concerning issues in it for shooters.
“The big one relates to ‘no conviction recorded’ offences, which Weapons Licensing will now be able to take into account when deciding whether or not someone is a fit and proper person for licensing purposes,” he said.
“We’ve opposed this for years and aren’t thrilled it’s been included in the bill, but considering the rest of the firearms-related matters are fair, reasonable and evidence-based we appreciate things could have been a lot worse.
“We’ve had decades of anti-gun people making up laws based on their feelings or things they saw in movies and video games, so it’s a breath of fresh air to have a government actually listen to the experts on a subject and reaffirm responsible firearms users are not, and have never been, a public safety issue.”
Mr Park particularly appreciated the Premier, Police Minister, and MPs throughout Queensland taking the time to listen to their constituents and genuinely engage with them on this issue.
“The feedback we’ve had from members has been overwhelmingly positive; they have contacted Ministers and MPs with their concerns about the law changes and received personalised, informed responses from MPs who clearly looked into the issue instead of just parroting the response someone in central Brisbane came up with,” he said.
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