Premier Chris Minns has confirmed NSW gun owners will be limited to four firearms in most cases and will be stripped of any right of legal appeal against police decisions to revoke licences.
While shooters are angry about what they see as unnecessary ownership limits, stripping them of the right to appeal would be a serious breach of democratic process, effectively making the police force judge, jury and executioner regardless of whether police were right or wrong in their decision to take action against the shooter.
“The New South Wales Government will introduce the toughest gun law reforms in the country,” he said this afternoon.
“The government will introduce a bill to impose a cap of four firearms per individual, with strict exemptions for primary producers and sporting shooters.
“It will reclassify straight-pull, pump-action and button or lever-release firearms into Category C, limiting their access primarily to farmers.
“It will reduce magazine capacities for Category A and B firearms to a maximum of five to ten rounds from a current unlimited capacity.
“It will introduce a complete ban on firearms that can use belt-fed magazines.
“And we will remove the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal review pathway, once the designation has been made that the licence should be taken.”
Minns then immediately mentioned another new law, seemingly tying sporting shooters with terrorists: “The NSW Government will also introduce legislation to ban ISIS flags in New South Wales, to ensure that they’re not used as part of a demented terrorist organisation propaganda,” he said.
Minns had earlier implied he would also ban recreational hunting, but there is no mention of it in the details announced today.
“My government, the cabinet, the cabinet office, the attorney general and the police minister have worked very hard in a short period of time to craft an emergency set of legislative reforms to introduce in the parliament, but we don’t believe that these are all of the answers to fulfill our responsibility, to keep the public safe and to fight anti-Semitism in the community and hate speech and racism in the community.
“You can expect further reform and further legislative change until we believe that we’re in a position where we’re confronting this urgent and pressing threat to our community.”
Police Minister Yasmin Catley said the changes were all about improving public safety.
“Following the horrific antisemitic terror attacks at Bondi, it is clear we must act decisively to reduce risk and to close the gaps in our gun laws,” she said.
She said the laws would “strengthen oversight, reduce the availability of high risk firearms, and give the police the tools that they need to intervene as early as possible”.
Under the laws, licences would have to be newer at least every two years, not five as they may be now.
She also called the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) a “loophole” and claimed it “expose sensitive intelligence”.
“Police already have the ability to suspend or revoke licenses where there is risk,” she said, “but too often these decisions have been overturned.
“By removing NCAT as an appeal pathway, police will be able to rely on intelligence without fear of it being exposed.”
She also confirmed NSW would participate in the buyback scheme announced today by the Prime Minister.
The legislation will go before NSW parliament on Monday, 22 December, with a vote expected the following day.
The complete list revealed in a NSW Government media release are as follows:
Capping and restricting the number and types of firearms:
- Imposing a cap of four firearms per individual, with strict exemptions for primary producers and sports shooters, who may hold a maximum of 10 firearms.
- Reclassifying straight-pull/pump-action and button/lever release firearms into Category C, limiting their access primarily to primary producers.
- Reducing magazine capacity for Category A and B firearms to a maximum of five to ten rounds, from a current unlimted capacity.
- Introducing a complete ban on firearms that can use belt-fed magazines.
Strengthening firearms licence checks and accountability:
- Removing the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) review pathway, ensuring we can use sensitive police intelligence without concern that a decision will be overturned by a tribunal, while retaining a rebust internal review process to ensure fairness and accountability.
- Reducing standard firearms licence terms from five years to two years, increasing the frequency of safety and suitability checks.
- Restricting firearms licences to Australian citizens only, with a carve out for New Zealand permanent residents engaged in roles such as primary production or security.
- Replace a current exemption allowing unlicensed shooting at shooting ranges with a robust NSWPF permit system to suitably assess unlicensed individuals before they access firearms.
Strengthening oversight, storage and compliance:
- Making gun club membership mandatory for all firearms licence holders, with the ability to exempt certain licence holders in the regulations.
- Requiring all gun clubs to use the GunSafe online platform to improve record-keeping, compliance and traceability of club membership and activities.
- Making safe storage inspections mandatory prior to the issue of a first permit to acquire a firearm, individuals will now need to meet the safe keeping requirements before obtaining a permit to aquire a firearm.
- Prevent any permit or licence holder from acquiring a firearm unless the Commissioner is satisfied that they meet safe keeping requirements. Police may conduct an inspection for this purpose.
- Tightening rules around deceased estates, requiring firearms licence holders to nominate alternative storage arrangements for safe keeping of their firearms in the event of their death when applying for, or renewing, their licence. Police will also be able to seize these firearms, if required.
In addition to new legislation, the Government will move quickly on a range of practical changes, including:
- Expanding disqualifying offences in the regulations, including personal and domestic violence offences within the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007.
- Increasing the use of criminal intelligence in firearms licensing decisions.
- A comprehensive audit of existing firearms licences, prioritising higher-risk cases, noting that licence holders will now be subject to scruitinty on reapplication evey two years, instead of five years.
A comprehensive buyback scheme will accompany these changes:
- These reforms will be paired with a buyback scheme, with further details to be announced before the changes are in force, in line the announcement by the Commonwealth Government.
- The NSW buyback scheme will be operated and funded in partnership with the Federal Government and AFP, to encourage gun owners to hand back guns that will now no longer be legal, to be destroyed.
- Existing unregistered firearms are already captured by the permanent national firearms amnesty and should be surrendered through that scheme.
The NSW Government will move to control access to all dangerous weapons – not just guns
- Consultation will commence around whether further knives or bladed articles should be made prohibited weapons under the Weapons Prohibition Act 1998, as well as how knives are stored in retail settings.
0 Comments