Queensland Weapons Licensing - Wait times

[CAVEMAN]

Why would they put a stop to H licences? That would be illegal to do so. A licence means nothing when they are not letting the majority of people pick up their firearms. They can approve all the licences and PTAs in the world but at the end of the day they mean nothing when the shops are closed. I have no doubt something dodgey is going on but if weapons licencing had any idea they would know that a licence does not mean you can obtain a firearm, so they have no reason to not approve them.

Id put away the tinfoil there mate, probably like the rest of the world and there manning has dropped. If someone has a sniffle they cant work, some people with kids choose not to. And many other reasons. Don't stress the New world order not coming for you yet. Just keep on drinking the tap water the fluoride will help.

[CTW]

Why would they put a stop to H licences? That would be illegal to do so. A licence means nothing when they are not letting the majority of people pick up their firearms. They can approve all the licences and PTAs in the world but at the end of the day they mean nothing when the shops are closed. I have no doubt something dodgey is going on but if weapons licencing had any idea they would know that a licence does not mean you can obtain a firearm, so they have no reason to not approve them.

Id put away the tinfoil there mate, probably like the rest of the world and there manning has dropped. If someone has a sniffle they cant work, some people with kids choose not to. And many other reasons. Don't stress the New world order not coming for you yet. Just keep on drinking the tap water the fluoride will help.

WLB are currently working from home. Although it might be a bit slower I still don't understand how it goes from 12 to 20 weeks. That is a 8 week difference from the old normal to the new normal. And we were already close to the 12 week mark. So being at a point where we should've been close to the top of the pile to having another few (8) weeks just quickly added on does not make sense.

I have been working from home for an American company for the last 9.5 years so I can understand network issues but not a 8 week extra delay. My wife works for a similar government department and started successfully working from home at the same time with some issues but is still managing to achieve month end and other targets.

I will be very happy when the restrictions, which should never have been put in place in the first place, is lifted.

IMO restrictions on ammo or pta's had nothing to do with social distancing or any other valid reason and the longer they are in place the fishier things are. Apparently at least WA has had the common sense to drop the restrictions there. Now for Qld to come to the party.

[AussieCapitalist]

October 31 is election day. Never forget what they have done and make them loose their cushy jobs lads.

[CTW]

October 31 is election day. Never forget what they have done and make them loose their cushy jobs lads.

Hey, AussieCapitalist, have you received your card yet? Your AB has been approved for more than a month now?
I am looking forward to 31 Oct.

[AussieCapitalist]

Yeah mate got the licence and 4 PTAs approved. One of the PTAs is approved but wont be issued for another 2 weeks because I submitted it before I had collect a firearm so I have to do the waiting period over again.

[CTW]

Yeah mate got the licence and 4 PTAs approved. One of the PTAs is approved but wont be issued for another 2 weeks because I submitted it before I had collect a firearm so I have to do the waiting period over again.

That is really good news mate. There is hope after all!!! The main thing is that you now have the card.
Now we just need the restrictions to be lifted.

[rc42]

Yeah mate got the licence and 4 PTAs approved. One of the PTAs is approved but wont be issued for another 2 weeks because I submitted it before I had collect a firearm so I have to do the waiting period over again.

I had something similar happen when I applied for my second PTA, despite having possession of the first rifle for over a month the WLB system hadn't been updated so they applied the 28 day wait again.

I emailed them a scan of the completed PTA paperwork from the dealer for the first rifle to show that it was in my possession and should be under my license on their system and the second PTA came through a couple of days later.

The wait for dealer paperwork to be uploaded into their systems can take months and some seem to get lost and are never uploaded, the dealer mentioned this specifically and said to be sure to keep the PTA paperwork safe, preferably in the storage with the firearms as police records are rarely correct when they do inspections.

[Rwd22]

Same thing happened with me, 2nd PTA ended up serving another 28 days due to my first firearm not having been registered to me yet.

I had an issue where my wallet went walk-about so needed to get another license card, even when that turned up, the list of registered weapons still had nothing on it, 2-3 months after my first PTA had been filled and sent back to WLB. After waiting 3 months for the license card, to only have it pinched a month and a half later, certainly a pain in the ass.

Dealer said the same to me as RC mentioned, so I keep the PTA paperwork in my rifle bag whenever I have the rifle out and about.

[bmax]

I am in week 11 for my cat A/B and still haven't heard anything. Can't really do much with it, so not a huge deal but thought i'd give an update.

[AussieCapitalist]

Sorry mate. I got mine in 56 days. Applied in February got it in April. It is beyond random how people apply later and get it quicker. I have had heaps of fines and a couple of arrests in my life too so go figure.

[bmax]

I put in a PTA as an experiment. We will see if this triggers some internal process.

[rc42]

I put in a PTA last week as I thought it would take a long time to come through (gun is on order from the US so could be months away)
Came back as the fastest PTA approval I've ever had, email approval was next day and the dealer had the official PTA email the day after that.

Looks like they have plenty of resources for PTAs but none for Cat H license applications.
Week 18 of waiting has just finished for me, only 2 more to go to meet the the new 20 week guide, but I got to 1 week from the '12 week' guide when they just added another 8 weeks so I'm still not hopeful.

With no phone lines and no responses to emails WLB are completely off the grid now.

[rc42]

I put in a PTA as an experiment. We will see if this triggers some internal process.

If this is your first PTA for your upcoming license the 28 day countdown before they process it will have just started, they still need to have approved your license as well or it could be longer and you can't pick up a firearm till the plastic card arrives which is about 2 weeks after the email license approval.

[bmax]

I put in a PTA as an experiment. We will see if this triggers some internal process.

If this is your first PTA for your upcoming license the 28 day countdown before they process it will have just started, they still need to have approved your license as well or it could be longer and you can't pick up a firearm till the plastic card arrives which is about 2 weeks after the email license approval.

I understand that. Putting in a PTA can not make my license processing take longer. I want the license more than the gun as I can borrow a gun from someone I know and I will be able to use it by the time I get the card.

[CTW]

I put in a PTA last week as I thought it would take a long time to come through (gun is on order from the US so could be months away)
Came back as the fastest PTA approval I've ever had, email approval was next day and the dealer had the official PTA email the day after that.

Looks like they have plenty of resources for PTAs but none for Cat H license applications.
Week 18 of waiting has just finished for me, only 2 more to go to meet the the new 20 week guide, but I got to 1 week from the '12 week' guide when they just added another 8 weeks so I'm still not hopeful.

With no phone lines and no responses to emails WLB are completely off the grid now.

I still think that they were told to put new cat H on ice (hopefully) while the restrictions were in place hence time to do PTA's and not for new licenses. I saw online that some people in WA were receiving letters to say that their applications were cancelled due to covid and that they needed to apply for a refund. 12 weeks is incredibly long but 20 is really no fun. Even with covid disruptions it should not take 20 weeks long. Let's see what happens at 20 weeks. It is now 17.5 for me.

[AussieCapitalist]

If you do not get your licence soon mate please speak to your local MP and see if they can see why it is taking so long and even seek legal advice if you have the means. It should not take 20 weeks. I got my new A/B in the thick of the lock downs so there is no excuse. The only extra check they do for a cat H is your club shoots which is nothing. So there is no excuse bar they are dragging their foot which is illegal.

[rc42]

After 16 weeks waiting I emailed WLB, forwarding the original application acknowledgement email that said to contact them after 12 weeks, got no reply.
Emailed again after 17 weeks, still no reply.
Emailed again after 18 weeks and got a generic reply with a copy of the text on their web site saying to wait for 20 weeks before contacting them.

Well, next Monday is the beginning of week 20, that's close enough so I'll start to become an irritation to them with complaints to everyone that I can think of.

Ranges are due to open soon and mine won't be allowing form 33 unlicensed shooters as the 1:1 supervision breaks social distancing rules (which is fair enough) but with at least two weeks wait for the license card I'm going to be excluded from shooting if WLB have decided not to process Cat H license applications until some arbitrary date they have made up.

[AussieCapitalist]

Mate when does your safety course expire? I have a sick feeling they may deny you if it is over 12 months even though they have been dragging their feet. Did you get it at the start of your 6 month wait? So you are nearly at the 11 month mark maybe? The women on the phone mentioned that mine was still current when I rang in February. So it is something they look at.

[AussieCapitalist]

….

[rc42]

Mate when does your safety course expire?

15th June will be 1 year to the day for my A/B/H safety course attainment.
I'd heard that they use the day that they start looking at the application rather then the state when it was submitted so it's a concern as it seems likely that Cat H applications have been suspended indefinitely. Obviously there's no lawful way that WLB can do that under the legislation so they won't openly admit it but from their point of view laws apply to us, not to them.

The shutting down of their phone lines and failure to respond to emails is an utter disgrace for a government department.

[AussieCapitalist]

Yeah that is cutting it close mate. Who knows what they will try to pull. If you get to the 20th week mate you need to speak to your MP and a lawyer and get them to write to the commissioner on your behalf. That is the only option as they are uncontactable. I am happy to help if I can to provide some kind of evidence, seeing as I got my A/B licence during lockdown so they have no excuse.

[Rwd22]

I'll be in the same boat regarding safety course, mine runs out in about 4 months from memory, its about a month til I can apply for my Cat H, so only leaves me about 3 months. If you end up in that position, have a chat to the place that ran your safety course and see what they can do for you. With any luck I'll have my H license this year!

[AussieCapitalist]

I'll be in the same boat regarding safety course, mine runs out in about 4 months from memory, its about a month til I can apply for my Cat H, so only leaves me about 3 months. If you end up in that position, have a chat to the place that ran your safety course and see what they can do for you. With any luck I'll have my H license this year!

Would you consider doing the course again in the next couple weeks before you apply?

[Rwd22]

I'll be in the same boat regarding safety course, mine runs out in about 4 months from memory, its about a month til I can apply for my Cat H, so only leaves me about 3 months. If you end up in that position, have a chat to the place that ran your safety course and see what they can do for you. With any luck I'll have my H license this year!

Would you consider doing the course again in the next couple weeks before you apply?

For me personally, I'll risk it and see what happens. Rather than throw a chunk of dollars at a safety course for the sake of it, that's quite a few boxes of 9mm, haha. My missus will also be in the same boat, so we'll just see how it goes.

[AussieCapitalist]

Yeah good plan mate. Hope it works out.

[rc42]

I contacted Shooters Union for advice about my situation, their response is below and came back within an hour, WLB could learn from that.
Since then I have emailed Mark Ryan to express my concern about WLB response times and ask for my application to be processed asap.
Now back to the waiting for license approval followed by the waiting for license card, I don't think I can do any more till I get to week 20.



"If you have lodged your application before the safety certificate runs out then you are fine. In regards to the timeframe for processing license applications it is running at over 20 weeks. We have contacted the Police Minister as we believe this is totally unacceptable, particularly given the license fee required. Weapons Licensing won’t look at an application until it is over 20 weeks old and as you say you can only contact them via email.

I would suggest you send an email to the Police Minister, Mark Ryan, police@ministerial.qld.gov.au pointing out that this is incredibly poor service. We often find that this seems to move things a bit faster."

[AussieCapitalist]

Nice mate. That should at least get the ball moving.

[Calister]

@rc42 not sure if this helps at all, I'm on my 15th week currently.

I had a call from an inspector about having a safe inspection last friday as WLB wanted to confirm everything was in order before going ahead with my cat H application so it still appears that they are at least looking at applications though I have no idea when the approval will happen, probably after week 20. I'll update when that happens.

[rc42]

WOOHOOO.... Just got the email approval for my Cat H license after 18 weeks and 6 days

Now to wait for that plastic card and my PTA, I have a Ruger Mk IV Hunter waiting at the dealer so it looks like I'll have it by the time the ranges open.

That was a long wait, the pistol process started on 4th June 2019 when I submitted my QP515 at the local police station, lets see if I can get the plastic license card in under a year, it will be close...

[RuinedNoodle]

Congrats RC, did they reply to any of your emails to the police minister?