Advice from the Western Australian Policearound the re-classification of lever action shotguns has provided no provision for compensation for shotguns that do not comply.
The effect is that currently licenced and legal firearms are going to be prohibited from ownership with no compensation. Some will be allowed to be kept but will have no commercial value and still no compensation.
The Advice from the Western Australian Police regarding the process for re-classification of lever action shotguns.
1. Are current licensed Lever Action Shotguns automatically receiving the Cat A – Cat B upgrade or is another application required?
Answer: All licensed lever action shotgun owners with a magazine capacity not exceeding 5 shots will be automatically be granted a category B licence.
2. IF a Lever Action Shotgun is over 5 shot magazine capacity from factory what is required?
Answer: WA Police will be contacting these owners and advising that their firearm is now a category D and it will be licensed for them as a category D, but on the limitation that the category D is a one off for the particular firearm due to the national agreement, they won’t be able to replace the firearm with another category D and when they no longer wish to licence the firearm they will have to sell it to a licensed firearm dealer or hand it into police for destruction.
3. IF a Lever Action Shotgun is over 5 Shot magazine capacity from modification what is required?
Answer: Lever action shotguns that originally had a magazine capacity not exceeding 5 shots will be classified as category B and if people have modified them to exceed that magazine capacity they will need to either revert the firearm back so that it is a category B or dispose of it through a licensed dealer or hand it into police for destruction.
4. At what stage are applications being accepted with a Lever Action Shotgun in the system as being Cat A? (Ie Serviceability Certificates)
Answer: All new applications will be for category B and they will need to meet the standard category B requirements.
5. Does the land holding size change in order for the approval to be made now the Lever Actions are in Cat B (e.g min acreage)?
Answer: The land holding size will need to be appropriate for the firearm that is being sought to be licensed.
0 Comments