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Western Australian minister for police and defence industry Paul Papalia has confirmed the domestic defence industry and firearms manufacturing businesses will not be swept up in the introduction of the nation’s toughest firearms laws.
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The WA state government recently collected more than 38,442 firearms which were surrendered by more than 20,000 licensed holders to WA Police as part of a massive $64.3 million-budgeted WA Firearms Act Voluntary Buyback Scheme and six-month amnesty earlier this year.
Some of the 3,195 handguns, 9,908 shotguns and 25,339 rifles collected were then taken to a regional location and blown up with explosives, according to the state government.
Under the incoming regulations, the state will introduce licence categories, including individual, business, primary producer and collector (each with their own total firearm number limit).
It’s understood primary producers and competition shooters will be restricted to a maximum of 10 firearms and recreational hunters limited to five. In addition, those renewing or keeping a licence will have to prove being “a fit and proper person”, pass a mental and physical health check, and not have a disqualification order (such as those having served a restraining order).
“Defence and police, they’re exempt. There’s no implication for a defence industry business. They can get a business licence for having a firearm if they’re doing research and development,” Minister Papalia, who spoke exclusively with Defence Connect, said during the recent Land Forces 2024 Expo held in Melbourne.
“Firearms can be acquired under a business license and there’s no actual limit on them.
“This is the biggest single reduction in guns any jurisdiction in Australia since John Howard was prime minister at the time of the Port Arthur massacre. We only did it in six months, he took 12 months.”
Papalia previously joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1978 and served as a Navy clearance diver in a counterterrorist squadron of the Special Air Service Regiment and was deployed on operations to Iraq on two occasions.
In addition, Papalia commanded a clearance diving team, a navy patrol boat and the Navy’s submarine escape and rescue service. He was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross and received commendations from both the Land and Maritime commanders before leaving the service in early 2004.
Minister Papalia said the use of explosives in the firearms disposal in this case was efficient and normal practice for large volumes and metal-crushing machines were also in use due to the large number of firearms.
“Our Firearms Act hadn’t been rewritten for 50 years. We were the only jurisdiction that hadn’t rewritten our Firearms Act post Port Arthur, and it meant that our current act does not elevate public safety to the primary consideration. The new law does,” he said.
“That’s the fundamental shift … We’ve done things that no other jurisdictions done, like impose a limit on how many guns an individual can have. We’re going to have a health check with a mental health component there. We will have far more onerous storage obligations, things of that nature.
“There’s reform right throughout the act we’re getting, one of the key elements is we’re getting rid of there’s a property letter system in WA that has been completely corrupted and enabled people to buy a letter from people who are selling them on minor landowners selling them.
“That will end and all of those authorisations will no longer be valid, and there’ll be a legitimate authorisation system will be linked directly to a limited number for each property that will be controlled entirely by that property owner.
“It’s been reformed right across the board, reducing the number of, ultimately reduce the number of firearms in the community.”
Earlier this year, Nationals WA leader Shane Love said the existing firearms act has significant safeguards to ensure firearms owners have a genuine reason to own each firearm licensed to them.
“The Firearms Act 2024 represents yet another assault on the private property rights of Western Australians by the Cook Labor government without proper justification or evidence,” Love said.
“Contrary to the rhetoric spouted by the police minister, these laws will do nothing to reduce gun crime yet Labor’s attacks and fearmongering over many months have left law-abiding firearms owners feeling like criminals.”
