Western Australia Police (WAPOL) have cancelled or suspended at least 44 gun licenses and seized 135 firearms as part of an operation targeting shooters with alleged sovereign citizen beliefs.
The operation, conducted last week, involved searches at 70 properties across Western Australia, and some of those targeted were reportedly identified by other members of the WA shooting community.
WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch confirmed he had ordered the operation in the wake of the Porepunkah shootings in Victoria.
“Following this tragedy, I instructed my officers to conduct a review and risk assessment of those individuals in Western Australia who are licensed firearm holders and whose beliefs align with sovereign citizen ideologies,” he said.
WA Police Minister Reece Whitby said the operation was about protecting West Australians from individuals “who pose a threat to the public”.
“No one is above the law, and that includes anyone who declares they are a sovereign citizen and thereby oppose the laws that are the cornerstone of a free and democratic community, which has the potential to threaten public safety,” he said.
Commissioner Blanch said there was no way anyone who made it clear they did not abide by laws could be considered a fit and proper person to have a gun licence in WA.
A firearms licence suspension notice seen by Sporting Shooter says the Commissioner’s delegated authority had reasonable grounds to believe the person subject to it may no longer be a fit and proper person to hold a licence, citing s150(a) and (c) of the Firearms Act 2024, which takes into account a person’s “conduct and behaviour” as well as a person’s “views, opinions, and attitudes” as part of the fit and proper person criteria.
The suspension notice goes on to state the subject’s “views, opinions and attitude” have allegedly demonstrated a disregard to the law, and cites their attendance at a 2023 “attempt to reclaim seized land” event, as well as co-signing of “correspondence sent to the Commissioner of Police which align with sovereign citizen ideologies”.
The notice further states the subject is an associate of former Senator Rod Culleton, whose farm was the subject of a 2023 reclamation attempt, after it was foreclosed on by the mortgage-holder.
It also stated they were an associate of another person whose identity was redacted from the sighted seizure notice, and “in that context, I [the Commissioner’s delegated authority] have had regard to their sovereign citizen ideologies” as per s152(1) of the Act, which allows the Commissioner to consider whether a licence holder’s associates are themselves fit and proper persons.
A separate licence cancellation notice issued to a different person and also seen by Sporting Shooter cited the subject’s “attendance at a Common Law Sherriff rally and posting/sharing online content which contains sovereign citizen ideology” and being an associate of another person who had been deemed ‘not fit and proper’ due to alleged sovereign citizen ideologies.
The cancellation notice goes on to say, “Recent times have seen significant changes in contemporary standards as to public safety, fitness and propriety, in respect of firearms and corresponding changes in policing experience. It is in that context I have decided to cancel the licence for the above reasons.”
Shooters Union Western Australia state advocate Steve Harrison said it was a complex issue, pointing out there were serious free speech issues at play.
“Our submission to the Parliamentary Committee reviewing the Firearms Act explicitly called out the chilling effect on free speech this element of the laws had, and even flagged the possibility it was unconstitutional,” he said.
“We don’t have enough information to know whether the people who had their licences suspended and guns seized were hardcore sovereign citizens that also posed a genuine public safety threat, or just people who disagreed with the government and were frustrated at the lack of political representation for them, and were venting online.
“I don’t think it’s unfair to say trust in the WA Government and WAPOL is pretty low at the moment among shooters, so it’s not unreasonable for people — even non-shooters — to have questions about the operation.”
Mr Harrison said while people with genuine sovereign citizen beliefs were clearly not going to pass the fit and proper person test, the extremely broad nature of things which could be considered as part of that test meant it was only a matter of time before people with less controversial viewpoints ran afoul of it.
“I am not for a moment defending people who threaten to use violence to get their way,” he said.
“What really worries me is the possibility the use of these laws will be expanded to include not just ‘obvious’ objectionable views, but things which someone in the government decides they just don’t like.
“I don’t think it’s a stretch to say we might see people losing their licences for protesting against issues such as unsustainable immigration from overseas, or having a dark or politically incorrect sense of humour.”
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