MEDIA RELEASE - 27 May 2026
Parliamentary Committee Confirms Evidence Gaps, Consultation Failures and Significant Uncertainties in ACT Firearms Bills
CANBERRA, ACT — The ACT Standing Committee on Legal Affairs has published its report on the Firearms (Public Safety) Amendment Bill 2026 and the Firearms (Firearm Prohibition Orders) Amendment Bill 2026. While the committee has recommended the Assembly pass both bills, the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia ACT (SSAA ACT INC) notes that the report contains significant acknowledgements of the concerns raised by the licensed firearms community throughout this process.
The committee’s own Finding 1 states plainly: “The Committee finds there is significant uncertainty over the operation of the proposed numerical caps.” The committee further acknowledged that the link between the specific caps proposed and a reduction in firearm-related harm is not definitive, and that the Government’s decision was driven primarily by National Cabinet politics and NSW alignment — not by ACT-specific data.
“The report is not a clean win for the Government. It is a document filled with caveats, acknowledgements and obligations — many of them directly reflecting what our members and the broader community put to this committee. We intend to hold the Government to every one of them.”
Evidence Base Confirmed as Insufficient
The committee explicitly acknowledged that the numerical caps are not supported by ACT-specific evidence. No data was presented linking a cap of five or ten firearms to measurable reductions in firearm-related harm in the ACT. The caps were supported on the basis of National Cabinet commitments — which constituted a commitment to develop options, not a mandate to legislate — and a broad alignment goal with NSW, despite the committee also accepting that the ACT is already out of alignment with NSW in a number of respects.
The committee also found that the discretionary power granted to the Firearms Registrar to approve exemptions above the caps introduces real uncertainty. Without clear statutory criteria, applicants cannot predict the threshold for approval and inconsistent outcomes are likely.
RECOMMENDATION 1:
The Government must establish a statutory criteria-based approval framework for Registrar exemption decisions.
FINDING 1:
Significant uncertainty exists over the operation of the proposed numerical caps.
Consultation Failures Directly Acknowledged
The committee’s conclusion was unambiguous: committee scrutiny is not a replacement for executive consultation. It is supplementary. The committee was cautious in accepting the Government’s assertion that the parliamentary inquiry process itself constituted adequate public engagement, and found that many unintended consequences — including the impact on biathlon, antique firearms and cross-border operations — could have been identified and resolved had genuine consultation occurred before the bills were introduced.
SSAA ACT Inc. notes that we raised the absence of meaningful consultation from the outset. The committee has now validated that concern formally.
RECOMMENDATION 4:
The Government must continue to consult all relevant internal and external stakeholders on implementation to minimise unintended consequences.
Recategorisation: Government Committed to Ongoing Engagement
The committee found that the recategorisation of straight-pull, self-opening and self-closing action firearms to Category C produced unintended consequences for legitimate sporting, recreational and commercial activities that were not considered during the bill’s rapid development. Biathlon Australia told the committee its sport would effectively be shut down in the ACT — a consequence the Government directorate acknowledged it had not considered.
Both the Minister for Police and the Chief Police Officer confirmed in evidence that regulatory changes — including exceptions and exemptions — are available to address these consequences. The ACT Government’s own submission stated it is:
“Committed to ongoing engagement with the firearms community to work through the regulatory impacts of the Public Safety Bill and ensure that this amendment does not disproportionately affect specific groups of gun owners.”
SSAA ACT Inc. will hold the Government to this commitment.
RECOMMENDATION 5:
Further work must be undertaken to enable biathletes to participate in their sport in the ACT
RECOMMENDATION 6:
Categories should align with other jurisdictions as much as possible, with plain-English explanation of any differences
RECOMMENDATION 2:
The Government must engage with the antique collector community to clarify the interaction of caps, exemptions and magazine provisions.
Cross-Border Complexity: Guidance Urgently Required
The committee confirmed that cross-border arrangements between the ACT and NSW are not straightforward and that these bills make them significantly more complex. Farmers, pest operators, sporting competitors and recreational shooters who live or operate on both sides of the border face real and unresolved compliance questions. The committee acknowledged that mutual recognition between the two jurisdictions does not mean NSW simply recognises everything under ACT law and vice versa.
RECOMMENDATION 3:
ACT and NSW governments must work together to produce clear plain-English materials explaining how the new laws operate on both sides of the border.
Buyback Must Be at Market Value — Committee Demands Transparency
The committee found the lack of detail around the National Gun Buyback Scheme to be a significant concern. SSAA ACT INC welcomes the committee’s clear position that compensation must be fair and transparent. Specifically, the committee’s recommendations make clear that:
Compensation must reflect pre-December 2025 market value — not the depressed post-announcement price caused by market oversupply following the WA and eastern-states reforms.
Accessories and ammunition must be included in the buyback.
It is an offence to possess ammunition without the matching licence, and optics and other accessories become worthless without the firearm.
Any licence holder who voluntarily wishes to surrender additional firearms should also receive market value or higher compensation.
RECOMMENDATION 8:
The full estimated cost of the buyback scheme must be tabled in the Assembly when Commonwealth discussions are finalised.
RECOMMENDATION 9:
The Government must advocate for the inclusion of accessories and ammunition in the buyback scheme.
Storage and Compliance: A Better Path
The committee agreed with evidence put by licensed firearms owners that improving storage requirements and compliance inspections would more directly address firearm theft than ownership caps alone. It made strengthening storage, compliance and pre-approval requirements a priority recommendation.
RECOMMENDATION 7 (Priority):
Develop and introduce legislation to strengthen firearm storage, compliance and licence pre-approval requirements, with consultation with experienced owners, clubs and collectors.
“Our community came to this inquiry with legitimate, evidence-based concerns. The committee has heard them. We now have formal recommendations on the parliamentary record covering consultation, evidence, exemption criteria, cross-border clarity, buyback fairness and regulatory flexibility. We will continue to engage at every step to ensure the Government honours the commitments made in and reflected by this report.”