MEDIA RELEASE - 18 SEPTEMBER 2026
The Evidence for the ACT’s Gun Caps Is a Review That Recommended Against Them
In Question Time on 15 September, the ACT Government pointed to Western Australia as its evidence for capping how many firearms a licensed Canberran may own. SSAA ACT has examined that evidence — and it points the other way. Western Australia’s own expert law-reform review expressly recommended there be no cap, and the ACT Government’s own submission to the Assembly’s inquiry cited that review while leaving its central recommendation out.
CANBERRA, ACT — Asked in the Legislative Assembly on 15 September for the evidence that limiting lawful firearm ownership will reduce crime or make Canberra safer, the Minister for Police pointed to Western Australia: the Government, she said, had “looked at their evidence and looked at their justification for the five.” The Sporting Shooters Association of Australia — ACT Inc (SSAA ACT) has examined that justification, and says it does not exist in the research the Government relied on.
“The Government told the Assembly it had looked at Western Australia’s justification for a five-firearm cap. We went and looked too — and Western Australia’s own expert review recommended the exact opposite. The evidence the Government is pointing to does not support a cap. It recommended against one.”
Nicole, Secretary, SSAA ACT INC
Western Australia’s own review recommended no cap
The centrepiece of Western Australia’s firearms reform was the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia’s Project 105 review — a multi-year review drawing on 1,244 written submissions, which made 143 recommendations. Having expressly considered whether to limit the number of firearms a person may own, the Commission recommended the opposite. Its Recommendation 54 reads: “There should be no upper limit on the number of firearms a single Firearm Licence holder may possess.”
The Commission reached that view deliberately, satisfied that Western Australia’s existing “genuine reason” and “genuine need” tests — under which an owner must justify each firearm on its merits — were sufficient “to prevent the unjustified stockpiling of firearms” without any fixed ceiling. The cap of five did not come from that review at all. It appeared only in the later Firearms Act 2024, a government decision that independent legal commentary has described as deviating “significantly from the recommendations of … the Law Reform Commission.” The research the Government invokes recommended no cap; the number five was a political choice made years afterwards.
The Government’s own submission left the recommendation out
The ACT Government’s own submission to the Standing Committee on Legal Affairs — Submission 066, prepared by the Justice and Community Safety Directorate — states that “the five-firearm limit was determined by reference to the precedent set by Western Australia,” and that “the WA reforms followed a review by the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia.” It cited the Commission’s review as part of the case for the cap — but did not disclose that the Commission had recommended there be no cap. The justification the submission did offer was drawn not from that review, but from a later Western Australian parliamentary committee (Report 51, October 2025) and Australia Institute polling.
“A government submission that names the Law Reform Commission in support of a limit the Commission expressly recommended against gives the Assembly an incomplete picture. We do not suggest the Minister set out to mislead anyone — the more likely explanation is that she was briefed on that incomplete account. But Members are entitled to the complete position before they vote, and right now they do not have it.”
Nicole, Secretary, SSAA ACT INC
What the record actually shows is that
The Question Time exchange put several other assumptions on the record that do not withstand scrutiny. The updated National Firearms Agreement, signed at National Cabinet on 26 August, adopted neither numerical caps nor any recategorisation of firearm types — so caps are not required by the national agreement, and only two of eight jurisdictions have legislated them; Victoria has rejected caps and Tasmania has voted them down. On the Government’s own advice — attributed in the Assembly to ACT Policing — the majority of firearm crime and seizures in the ACT involve illegal firearms, not the licensed owner; and the ACT already records the lowest rate of firearm theft in the nation. No evidence that a cap of five, or any number, reduces firearm crime was offered when it was squarely sought — the same absence the two independent, government-commissioned reviews found. And the attack the Government cites as its reason for acting, at Bondi, involved three firearms in use: a cap of five would not have prevented it.
“Canberra is already among the safest places in the country, with the lowest gun theft in the nation and no cap. On the Government’s own advice the problem is illegal firearms, not licensed owners. Yet the measure falls entirely on the law-abiding — for a public-safety benefit no one has been able to demonstrate, and which the independent reviews could not find.”
Nicole, Secretary, SSAA ACT INC
The alternative SSAA ACT supports
SSAA ACT is not opposed to sensible firearms regulation. It opposes numerical caps, recategorisation and any compulsory buyback — none of which the independent evidence supports; the Lay Rapid Review of Victoria’s Firearms Laws found “no clear evidence that numerical caps on individual ownership, by themselves, reduce firearms-related harm,” and the ACT’s own Standing Committee found “significant uncertainty over the operation of the proposed numerical caps.” It supports measures directed at genuine risk: intelligence, enforcement, and a well-resourced Firearms Registry — the priority the Standing Committee itself identified (Report 9, Recommendation 7) — together with a genuinely voluntary buyback at fair market value and a five-year evidence review. That is the fair, proportionate and evidence-based path.
-ENDS-
MEDIA CONTACT
Nicole
Secretary
SSAA ACT INC
info@ssaaact.org.au
NOTES TO EDITORS
NOTES TO EDITORS
Question Time: ACT Legislative Assembly, Question Time, Tuesday 15 September 2026 (questions from Mr Milligan and Mr Parton; answers from Dr Paterson, Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services; points of order from Mr Cocks and Mr Parton). Quotations are from the edited proof transcript and should be confirmed against the final Weekly Hansard. Western Australian review: Law Reform Commission of Western Australia, Review of the Firearms Act 1973 (WA) — Project 105 Final Report (October 2016); 143 recommendations; Recommendation 54 — “There should be no upper limit on the number of firearms a single Firearm Licence holder may possess”; §9.4 and Chapters 9–10 (genuine reason and genuine need). The five-firearm limit was enacted later in the Firearms Act 2024 (WA). ACT Government submission: Submission 066 to the ACT Standing Committee on Legal Affairs (Justice and Community Safety Directorate), pp. 9–10, citing the WA Firearms Act 2024 and the WA Standing Committee on Legislation, Report 51 (October 2025). National Firearms Agreement: updated at National Cabinet on 26 August 2026 (first update since 2017), adopting neither numerical caps nor recategorisation. Independent evidence: Lay Rapid Review of Victoria’s Firearms Laws (May 2026) — “no clear evidence that numerical caps … reduce firearms-related harm”; ACT Standing Committee on Legal Affairs, Report 9 (May 2026) — Finding 1 (“significant uncertainty over the operation of the proposed numerical caps”) and Recommendation 7 (intelligence, storage and compliance as the priority). Firearm theft: The Australia Institute, Firearm theft in Australia (October 2025) — ACT lowest of all jurisdictions at 3.1 per 100,000. Bondi firearm count per NSW Budget Estimates evidence, 28 August 2026.
The Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia ACT Inc (SSAA ACT INC) is the peak body representing licensed firearms owners, competitive shooters, hunters and rural users in the Australian Capital Territory. SSAA ACT represents approximately 5,700 members; there are approximately 7,000 licensed firearm owners in the ACT (these are distinct figures).
This release is for public information and does not constitute legal advice.