The Victorian government has rejected imposing caps on how many guns licensed shooters can own, and is not planning to reclassify lever-release or straight-pull firearms.
Following the Bondi terrorist attacks in December 2025, the National Cabinet — urged on by the NSW government — met to discuss changes to the country’s firearm laws, with three of the big ticket items being caps on how many firearms shooters can own, reclassifying lever-release and straight-pull firearms, and establishing a national firearms buyback scheme.
Victoria subsequently commissioned former Police Commissioner Ken Lay AO APM to lead a “Rapid Review” of the state’s firearm laws.
The Lay Report was formally released to the public this week, along with the Victorian Labor Government’s official response explicitly rejecting firearm caps as well as a buyback.
The Lay Report recommended introducing caps on firearm ownership — generally four guns for hunters, but up to 10 for target shooters and primary producer, while also indicating that restricting firearms to at most 10 per licensee would affect at least 23% of the shooters in Victoria, of which there were approximately 240,565 in 2025.
This recommendation was rejected by the government, but the Lay Report’s other 15 recommendations were accepted, with changes including:
- Licence holders must be Australian or New Zealand citizens, or require the licence for occupational purposes
- Requiring licence holders and applicants to go through background checks via the Commonwealth Government AusCheck system (the same one used for Aviation Security Identification Cards)
- Increasing penalties for firearms trafficking
- Strengthening Firearm Prohibition Orders
- Giving the Police Commissioner more power to temporarily recategorise firearms.
While accepting this last point, the Victorian government’s official response to the Lay Report explicitly states, “Aside from these changes to the Chief Commissioner’s powers, Victoria will not be making any immediate changes to firearm classifications in these reforms.”
The response’s conclusion states, “The Rapid Review and the Victorian Government’s Response provide a clear foundation for strengthening Victoria’s gun laws and will make Victorians safer. The Government will now take time to implement these reforms effectively and consider the Review’s recommendations that government has accepted.”
Shooters Union Australia president Graham Park said he was extremely pleased to see Victoria’s sensible response to the firearms cap and re-categorisation issues, noting a recent economic report commissioned by Shooters Union had clearly shown a buyback would cost the Victorian Government nearly $750m while not making any significant improvements in public safety.
“A firearms buyback in Victoria was going to cost them at least $437.6m in the next financial year, as well as reducing Victorian economic output by $307m by 2030 – not to mention wiping out at least 432 full-time equivalent jobs,” he said.
“Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory have unequivocally rejected the idea of firearm caps for licensed shooters, and Victoria is making the right choice by acknowledging reality and joining them.”
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