Shooting air rifle in the garage

[rc42]

Just to clarify regulations regarding license conditions as they apply to LAFOs in Queensland.

A&B licenses here obtained for sports and target shooting generally always come with license conditions SC1, SC2 and RE1 which are defined in the Queensland Weapons Regulations 2016.

Those definitions are:
SC1
The licensee is authorised to possess and use registered category A and B weapons for sports or target shooting at an approved shooting range.

SC2
This licensee must maintain financial membership of an approved shooting club

RE1
The licensee is authorised to possess and use registered category A and B weapons for recreational shooting on rural land with the express consent of the owner of the land.


Use of a firearm anywhere other than an approved range or rural zoned land is a breach of license conditions which would leave the licensee subject to prosecution and firearm confiscation.

Category H handguns (including air pistols) do not come with an RE1 condition so can only be used at approved ranges (PC1 condition), to use them on rural land you need a primary producer (PP1) condition.


Rules will likely vary in other states

[FNQ]

Technically speaking it would be illegal in suburbia is my take on the law

Some even argue that shooting targets on rural properties is legal which I disagree with

Say you created a safe range in your garage and it was out of sight which only you knew about....

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

[rc42]

I've seen posts from people in other states claiming that when hunting in state forests they can fire sighting shots but not perform target shooting, not sure which states or how true that is but it certainly doesn't apply to Queensland as recreational shooting can only be on private rural land (without size restriction as long as no projectile leaves the property) and with the owner's express permission.

The term 'recreational shooting' isn't really defined anywhere but it would be reasonable to assume that it includes anything that you can legally shoot at such as pest animals, wood, metal or plastic targets, tin cans etc, in fact just about any inanimate object including paper targets.

As mentioned above, shooting in QLD is only allowed at approved ranges and on rural land, nowhere else, for 'suburbia' you still need to check the council zoning, if it is anything other than 'rural' then you can't legally discharge any firearm whether it's in the garden, the garage or in your living room inside the fish tank. If anyone does then they have violated their weapons license conditions, the penalty would be loss of license, all of your firearms and ammunition and likely a large fine.

Would you be caught? Almost certainly not, especially with air guns but what if the police were just about to knock on your door about another matter or after a neighbor report of hearing guns or during a safe inspection or maybe visiting after a break-in they saw the shooting area or marks form where it was?


If I didn't live on rural property I'd never discharge any firearm in or around my home and I'd certainly encourage others in QLD to do the same.

[elnino]

It is going to be a gamble.
It depends on your neighbours, how much you intend to shoot etc.

I have a paslode (combustion) nail gun which is easily 2x louder than my nitro .22 CFX and have been on that for hours at a time with no issues and sort of sound similar.

However people will only assume its an air rifle if they know you have one. Most of the public have thier heads in the sand and think guns in australia are rare.

I am on the edge of rural so not really an issue for me.