Gun News Australia: the latest news for Aussie shooters

THE NSW STATE BUDGET contains a major firearms policy admission: the Government says it has committed to participating in the National Gun Buyback Scheme and is working with the Australian Government on funding and parameters. However, when we reviewed the Budget papers, we found clear money for the Firearms Registry, the National Firearms Register and police capability -but no clear, dedicated li...

MAJOR FIREARMS POLICY WORK is being done through official working groups, but licensed shooters are being left to reconstruct the process through FOI requests, redacted documents and multiple review appeals. IN THIS EPISODE of Gun News Australia, we begin an investigation into the Firearms and Weapons Policy Working Group and the awkwardly named Inconsistency Sub-Working Group. Official documents...

WITH TWO state elections looming (Vic / NSW), we speak with One Nation about its firearms policy. Labor doesn't have one, and the Liberals don't have one either – leaving One Nation ahead of the pack. That raises an important question for licensed shooters: how can voters make an informed decision if political parties won't clearly explain where they stand? In this interview, Gun News Australia sp...

THREE YEARS AGO Western Australian shooters found themselves at the centre of the “Connect the Guns” controversy. Maps showing where firearm owners live were published across the state and public safety concerns were cited as part of the broader debate surrounding firearms reform. Gun News Australia recently lodged a Freedom of Information request seeking documents relating to firearms stolen from...

THE VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT has introduced new firearms legislation that could significantly affect licensed shooters across the state. But before debating the details of the legislation itself, there is another question that deserves attention: who was actually consulted before these changes were announced? In this episode of Gun News Australia, we examine the new Firearms Amendment Bill, the role o...

THE VICTORIAN Government has announced another round of firearms law changes, while anti-duck hunting activists continue to push for further restrictions on hunting and shooting activities across the state. In this episode of Gun News Australia, we sit down with Danny Ryan, President of Sporting Clays Victoria, to discuss the growing political pressure facing licensed shooters and hunters in Victo...

FOR DECADES, licensed shooters have found themselves fighting the same battles over and over again. A new restriction is proposed. Organisations mobilise. Submissions are written. Legal challenges are considered. Campaigns are launched. Sometimes we win. Sometimes we lose. Then a few years later, the entire process starts again. But what if we've been approaching the problem the wrong way? In this...

WE SPEAK WITH Sean Fraser to dissect the recently released Ken Lay Rapid Review into Victoria’s firearm laws. The Victorian Government has accepted 15 out of 16 recommendations, paving the way for sweeping administrative shifts that directly target licensed Victorian shooters. We break down the deliberately laid "landmines" hidden in this report, including the open ended definitions of "high-risk"...

In this episode, we break down a new economic report that reveals the proposed Victorian gun buyback scheme will return less than one cent in benefits for every dollar spent. We examine the cost-benefit analysis commissioned by Shooters Union Australia that shows taxpayers will spend $886 million for a benefit-to-cost ratio of just 0.28 to 0.34. The report found no statistical evidence that reduci...

WE LOOK AT what the seismic emergence of One Nation after recent elections means for firearm owners across the country. One Nation's stunning performance in the South Australian state election saw them capture 24.4% of the vote and four lower house seats, dramatically outpolling the Liberals.  They also captured three upper house seats. This momentum continued through the Nepean by-election, where...

THE BONDI ROYAL COMMISSION’S interim report recommends the National Firearms Agreement be ‘updated’, but we're calling for that idea to be dropped. In this episode of #GunNewsAustralia, we break down our submission to the Commission explaining why updating the NFA without examining its current flaws would be a step backwards. We expose how Western Australia doesn't even comply with the existing NF...

WE’VE JUST HELD our first NCAT hearing to force NSW Police to hand over documents from the national roundtable of firearm registries.  They will reveal what new laws our registries and policy bureaucrats are secretly planning. To fight this, the police have hired an expensive partner from a major law firm (costing thousands of dollars per day) instead of using their internal lawyers. This is unpre...

THE VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT’S recent State Budget told us how much value it places on the shooting sports. Despite iron-clad promises to build world-class shooting facilities after abandoning the 2026 Commonwealth Games, Victoria's shooters received zero funding while other sports flourished. The numbers tell a shocking story. Geelong BMX Club secured $200,000 for 120 members (that's $1,600 per membe...

IN THIS EPISODE, we sit down with Danny Ryan, President of Sporting Clays Victoria, to discuss why politicians remain dangerously uninformed about firearms and the shooting community. This always leads to uninformed policy and bad laws – such as those that came out of the Bondi tragedy. We look at the appalling knowledge gap among politicians who make decisions affecting our sport. From profession...

VICTORIA HAS FALLEN well behind the rest of Australia, lacking even a single shooting facility capable of hosting international-level events. With the Victorian state budget imminent and the November state election looming, now is the time for our major parties to see and capitalise on the political and economic opportunities this presents. WE SPEAK WITH Danny Ryan, President of Sporting Clays Vic...

WE INTERVIEW BASTIAN GREEN from Australian Sporting Agencies, who discusses the devastating impact of new federal importation laws on Australia's firearms industry. Without consulting industry stakeholders, the federal government implemented sweeping restrictions following the Bondi incident, effectively throttling the supply chain and threatening the viability of the industry underpinning what we...

THE ANIMAL JUSTICE PARTY'S grubby preference deals at the 2022 Victorian state election resulted in the election of their lead candidate, Georgie Purcell, which was an outcome bound to alienate the party at this year’s election. Her election saw the creation of a parliamentary committee that recommended banning duck hunting, which only failed because of the intervention of the Premier’s office. It...

THE RECENT SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ELECTION has sent shockwaves through Australia's political landscape, and shooters need to pay attention. We break down the stunning results – with Labor securing 34 seats while the Liberals collapsed to just 5 with One Nation mopping up 4 seats in the lower house, and 3 in the upper house. This isn't just about South Australia. With Victoria's state election just six m...

WE LOOK AT what the One Nation result in South Australia means for Victoria's upcoming state election.  We explain how all political parties—Labor, Liberal, and One Nation—can improve their pitch for the shooter's vote. That's over 250,000 votes there for the taking. The surge in One Nation's vote in South Australia isn't a one-off. It's a significant indicator of what we might see in Victoria, an...

WE’VE JUST LAUNCHED the first ever legal action to expose what Australia's firearm registries have been secretly planning behind closed doors at the National Firearms and Weapons Policy Working Group. We filed our case with NCAT after the NSW Information and Privacy Commissioner found that NSW Police had no legitimate grounds to refuse us access to these documents under GIPA laws. Despite the IPC'...

WE LOOK AT the Tasmania's New Firearms Consultative Committee, which includes a number of anti-shooting groups who have nothing to contribute to firearms policy. We also look at how Tasmania's Police Commissioner, Donna Adams, recently used the media to push her view that there should be gun limits imposed on shooters in Tasmania. She based this on the death of a constable – at the hands of an off...

CHANNEL 96 is one of our favourite channels – but even it may have fallen foul of Albo’s new gun laws. The program "How It's Made" recently featured the restoration of an 1886 lever action rifle— covering the making of a stock, engraving of the stock, restoration of the trigger and lever, barrel bluing and engraving of the receiver. The problem is Albo’s new gun laws make this illegal – meaning th...

WE UPDATE YOU on our ongoing Freedom of Information request against New South Wales Police to lift the lid on discussions between the states on what other gun laws they are contemplating. On February 27, 2025, I submitted a request under the New South Wales equivalent to Freedom of Information laws to obtain vital meeting minutes on meetings held with other registries, which they refused to releas...

IN THIS EPISODE, we look at Kate’s escape to the United States nearly a year ago, without ever starting the legal battle on WA gun laws she promised or explaining where the money has gone. We also look at why Australian shooters desperately need effective political representation —and why so many past attempts have failed. I break down the three main reasons: inexperience, greed, and ego. We've se...

WE SPEAK WITH Nicola Centofanti MLC, the Leader of the Opposition in South Australia’s Upper House, as the state approaches a pivotal election on March 21st. The discussion covers the significant concerns surrounding firearm legislation, particularly in light of recent changes to gun laws in Western Australia and New South Wales and federally – and even SA Labor’s decision to ban bow hunting and t...