Western Australia’s Upper House has passed the Firearms Bill 2024 after (as expected) the ALP used its supermajority to ram the legislation through ahead of the winter break.
The laws include firearm limits of 10 guns maximum per person, automatic loss of firearms and licence following a Domestic Violence accusation, and compulsory mental health checks for licence applications or renewals.
In theory the legislation is supposed to go to the Governor for Assent and then be promulgated in the Government Gazette before coming into force, but WA Police have already been enforcing provisions of the legislation around firearm limits even before the law was passed so for most intents and purposes the legislation may as well be in force now.
The Regulations for the laws (which govern how they will operate) have not yet been made public but it is a safe bet little in them will be good news for shooters.
We’d also like to remind our members that every one of our offers of support and assistance to the Western Australia Firearms Community Alliance, who positioned themselves as the peak body representing all WA shooters in the fight against these laws, was ignored or rebuffed.
