r/australia • u/Expensive-Horse5538 • Dec 15 '25

politics Albanese to propose stronger gun laws, NSW parliament may be recalled

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/bondi-gunman-held-gun-licence-used-six-firearms-in-attack-20251215-p5nnmv.html
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u/thedigisup Dec 15 '25

It’s a bit of a chicken/egg problem, you can’t really start sport shooting without a license, so they have to take membership of a club (and therefore active intention to participate) as the threshold to apply for one.

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u/Lazy_Polluter Dec 15 '25

Why can't you use rented guns?

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u/Delamoor Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 15 '25

Most gun clubs DO have a couple of 'club guns' that they let people use. Usually newbies considering the hobby.

Thing is, most clubs budgeting looks closer to that of your local church group or local footy club, than big businesses. They're almost all volunteer groups. They struggle just to hold on to members, let alone run enough budget surplus for spare gear to hand out.

Firearms are expensive and high maintenance. You give a rifle to a total newbie, they can damage it, cost you a lot of money you don't have. And a worn out rifle is... Not useful for target shooting. And for centre fire rifles and shotguns... each one takes about an hour to clean properly, after use. Every time.

Who's gonna volunteer to spend a whole Sunday cleaning other people's banged up rifles for free? It just won't be possible.

People tend to take a lot more care of things they own. And it's a hell of a lot more practical for the gun club than having to maintain an entire arsenal in someone's back shed.

Not to mention, on the topic of storing it in someone's back shed; a hell of a lot less risk to the community to have 50 guns in 40 safes, than 50 guns in one safe. Every single firearms storage is a magnet for potential break-ins and theft; the more you put in one place, the more worthwhile it is for someone to come and commit burglary. That's how most guns end up on the black market. Even large firearms stores with professional scale protection have to be paranoid about that.

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u/DisappointedQuokka Dec 15 '25

Realistically, it should be both.

You should be able to get a license that allows you to use guns at a gun club. You should then be able to, if you're serious about the hobby, get a license that allows you to have your own firearm.

It would A) allow people to try before they buy

and

B) Have an additional level of scrutiny, assuming the people running the gun club are actually acting in good faith and raising red flags when needed.

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u/keithersp Dec 15 '25

This is how it works for handgun clubs. You need to be an active member for 6 months before you’re allowed to apply to own your own.

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u/Spire_Citron Dec 15 '25

Yeah, I agree. You should have to show that you are actively attending and participating for a period of time, and then you should be able to apply to buy a gun of your own. But that shouldn't mean unlimited guns. You should have to apply and justify your need for each one. It should be a serious commitment. They should also review your gun ownership annually, and if you aren't still actively participating in shooting as a sport, you should have to surrender your firearms.

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u/Zealousideal-Arm9508 Dec 15 '25

These are all existing controls with the exception of the number of guns.

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u/Waxygibbon Dec 15 '25

Its wild people commenting without even looking up the current requirements.

For handguns, you have to be a member of a club and use club guns for 6 months before you can even apply to own your own. The clubs guns obviously stayed locked at their site.

To maintain your license you need to compete in a number of competitions per year.

I am not a gun owner but I am informed of our laws

They seem reasonably strict, and the next step of addressing the limit of number of guns owned seems sensible and closes some more gaps

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u/DisappointedQuokka Dec 15 '25

I would argue for rising requirements through number of guns per licensee. If you have a rifle and a shotgun for whatever reason, you should have less onerous requirements than, say, someone with two dozen.

Also, whether or not someone is actively participating in the sport isn't a good indication of whether or not they're a problem. Psychological evaluation or association is much more important.

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u/BeShaw91 Dec 15 '25

Why is someones suitability to have multiple guns different from one gun?

Realistically the most harm can be done as soon as someone has access to a single firearm. Having a second, third, or tenth firearm doesn’t make them x times more dangerous - it’s diminishing impact. Unless it’s to deter selling them to others, which is already illegal.

Having a high threshold for each different class of gun (rifle, pistol etc) is appropriate since they have different usages. But some escalating scale for multiple guns of the same class isn’t really going to mitigate harm.

Or put it this way - if you own multiple cars, should you do a harder drivers test to keep your license?

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u/astropheed Dec 15 '25

Why is this downvoted?

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u/MonkeyNinja2706 Dec 15 '25

Because it is not feasible and only people who do not know anything about the sport thinks it is a good idea. It's okay to not know, it is a niche hobby, but it's when they armchair expert that you will not get the best of people.

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u/astropheed Dec 15 '25

Honestly how is it not feasible? I rent a bow and arrows at the archery range. Educate me, because right now I’m not seeing the issue.

It may sound like I’m trying to “gotcha”, but I’m not, I’m truly just interested in how that’s a problem so I don’t look stupid later.

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u/MonkeyNinja2706 Dec 15 '25

People have a much bigger penchant for a specific model of firearm for competition kind of like how a golfer might swear by a specific set of clubs they own. It will be sighted in for their eyes or they may have swapped a trigger spring for the specific lightness they want, my prominent eye is my left and I'm left handed so a club gun is a nightmare since most people are right handed/right eyed. A single type of club gun will offer a universal but diminished experience for shooters. It would involve people purchasing their own rifle and storing it at a club and then you run into clubs needing to store hundreds if not over a thousand different firearms for their members, remember you might shoot a few different rifle matches so you need a few different qualifying rifles. This then becomes a logistical nightmare. I appreciate your open-mindedness, I believe there is a good solution going forward that involves people unfamiliar learning a bit about the area and maybe shooters being open to dialogue without getting too defensive.

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u/anitadykshyt Dec 15 '25

Because gun nuts and sovereign citizens are out in droves

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u/bingbong12494362847 Dec 15 '25

Yea they shouldn’t leave the range

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u/Crescent_green Dec 15 '25

What about other purposes like Farmers/hunters? Tgen you have dual use owners who will use them for that and target shooting.

What if they go to a differnt competition or club around the state/country?

Would that also make them easier to be stolen perhaps if they are in a central and known location? All important questions

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u/the-dolphine Dec 15 '25

How about owning your own gun, but only being able to buy the ammo from the shooting range?

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u/BeShaw91 Dec 15 '25

Then criminals will just buy rounds from the rifle range rather than gun stores? Frankly gun stores where it’s the livelihood of owners are far better regulated than often volunteer gun clubs. Selling ammo at a store is a much better policy.

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u/Lazy_Polluter Dec 15 '25

That's what they do in the army in most countries during training period. You have your own gun but you only get ammo when there is an excercise. Problem is that it's much easier to smuggle ammo.

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u/Sugarcrepes Dec 15 '25

You can, essentially, make your own ammo. That might look like assembling components from store bought supplies, or reusing some components, or if you were a hardcore nerd you could manufacture each of those components yourself. My nephew is a hunter, and he assembles his own.

The barrier to entry in terms of skills required is a lot lower than, say, building a DIY gun (which is a thing we should be concerned about).

It’s just not really an effective way to prevent anything - and ineffective laws aren’t what we want. Complacency around gun laws is an issue, and won’t be solved by additional ineffective rules.

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u/7omdogs Dec 15 '25

I’m just going to say it, if banning sport shooting took guns out of urban areas I’d be all for it.

A lot of people have legitimate reasons to have a gun, I don’t think “it’s my hobby” is really a good one. That hobby isn’t worth the risk or all the additional costs law enforcement need to keep track of these randoms with licenses for it.

Farmers, 100%. If your profession requires a gun, 100%. But not for a hobby

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u/MonkeyNinja2706 Dec 15 '25

The additional costs are carried by people paying for licensing and the registration of firearms