Best way & cost to relocate my firearms to WA from NSW

[RedSky7]

Howdy.. i'll be moving to WA in 2 weeks, i was originally bringing my firearms with me via jetstar but with flights cancelled and other airlines not as accepting i'm wondering if I can just send my firearms direct to a dealer via post? How would I do this? Is it very expensive?
(I have an approved interstate permit which I will then apply for a WA firearms license )
Thanks for any suggestions.

[bladeracer]

You can have your dealer send them over to a WA dealer. I would leave them in NSW though until you have a WA licence. WA has some crazy rules, including very expensive fitness certificates for firearms before they can be registered. Have you already discussed with WA Firearms whether you'll have any difficulty with your firearms? If you don't already have properties you can shoot on then you will be registering them for club use only, or paying hundreds of dollars for property letters, but still won't actually be able to shoot on those properties. Even for just five firearms, the certificates and property letters could add up to a lot of money.

[Ziege]

And look forward to some long as heck waiting times with those applications too, gun stores here have never sold so many guns as they have in the last 2 weeks, applications are said to be in excess of 1000% higher than usual.

[Diamond Jim]

Look up the WAPOL Firearms branch on the web and check their requirements and fees. You'll be horrified. FFS it costs about $175 plus a safety certificate to ADD a firearm to a licence in WA at present - that's if you are a property owner or have someone who will give you a letter.
If you have cat A and Cat B guns they are separate applications - all cat A guns on one application, all cat B guns on a separate application, double the fee.
I'd hate to think what it would cost to start from scratch.
I can't wait for uniform gun laws Australia wide.

[RedSky7]

wow.. so i'm looking at $175 to register each gun from NSW to a WA license?
I have a giant problem I think ill need a new post for.. i'm getting to WA in a week.. ill be under mandatory quarantine (coming from NSW) for 14 days with a temp gun permit.. I was allowed to keep my firearms with me for those 14 days during quarantine and then needed to store at a firearms dealer... well I just found out they've shut all gunshops in WA? what am I supposed to do now?!

[Diamond Jim]

No, it's $175 for ALL your cat A guns combined on one application (1 gun or 100) and another $175 for ALL your cat B etc.
Plus you'll need a "serviceability certificate" for each and every gun - maybe $20 each or so from your transferring gun shop.
In addition you will need a "Property Letter" or club support stating you have somewhere to shoot every calibre (WA has no shooting in state forests or national parks. No deer, duck or quail season to justify "genuine reason".
You need access to private property or a club (but if you are club licensed you can't shoot your guns anywhere else even if a property owner invites you).
WA has just closed all gun stores for an indefinite period so it could be months or more before your guns are able to be collected regardless of the exorbitant fees charged.

[Bruiser64]

No, it's $175 for ALL your cat A guns combined on one application (1 gun or 100) and another $175 for ALL your cat B etc.
Plus you'll need a "serviceability certificate" for each and every gun - maybe $20 each or so from your transferring gun shop.
In addition you will need a "Property Letter" or club support stating you have somewhere to shoot every calibre (WA has no shooting in state forests or national parks. No deer, duck or quail season to justify "genuine reason".
You need access to private property or a club (but if you are club licensed you can't shoot your guns anywhere else even if a property owner invites you).
WA has just closed all gun stores for an indefinite period so it could be months or more before your guns are able to be collected regardless of the exorbitant fees charged.

I am afraid I have to correct you on one point here. If you have a look at the FAQ at the link below, you will see that Cat A and Cat B firearms can be lodged together on the one application. You are correct in respect of the firearms serviceability certificate and all the other information provided.

My advice to the OP is that the issue in WA is that they are quite strict in respect of the genuine reason AND the genuine need to own a firearm. Recreational shooting on a private property you have permission to shoot on (that you confirm with the provision of a property letter), verifies your genuine reason. You then need to justify why you NEED each particular firearm. The fact you have an interstate firearms licence is irrelevant in WA. You have to demonstrate valid reason and valid need here in WA. I would advise you to have a chat to Firearms Branch in WAPOL to get information from them about the requirements. The FAQ also provides further details. When the gun stores re-open, you should also speak to them to see what assistance they can provide. You arent the first eastern states immigrant surprised by just how strict the laws are here in WA.

It is expensive to apply for a firearms licence in WA. For an initial application there is a 28 day waiting period before they will even commence the assessment process.

https://www.police.wa.gov.au/~/media/FA ... .pdf?la=en

[Ziege]

Ok clearly some confusion here, yes you will need serviceability certificate for each firearm at roughly $25 a piece, also a safety awareness test another $25, then there is the application, for the initial one you are looking at around $265 from memory, this includes both cat a and b. Example, when I reapplied for my firearm license initially licensed a shotgun (cat a) and a high Powered centerfire (cat b) and was all on the one application, additions are the same for these categories, however an addition costs a little over $180 and can be 1 or whatever number of rifles/guns

Cat h is different and a complete arse ache as is cat C and anything else except cat E.


You will need property letters if wishing to use for hunting purposes, otherwise club membership is needed and endorsement from said club for the aforementioned rifles/guns. And don't be surprised if those club memberships have to be over multiple clubs to cover what you own. Also club purpose Firearms can't be used for hunting or recreational shooting outside of clubs.

Property letters are a suspect issue at the moment, I wouldn't bank my Firearms on the letters that stores "sell" you, that is bound to have an expiration date on it as a means of gaining access to firearms.


You will also need a safe and it will need to be secured with the stat Dec filled and evidence provided that it satisfies legislation

So with that said good luck

Edit: forgot to add that the transfer would need to be brokered through a licensed gun dealer and there may be storage and other fees also.

Also I got my largest calibre rifle due to someone moving here from QLD who could not satisfy the conditions needed to license that firearm here, it was brand new and they had no choice but to take a massive loss on it.

[Bruiser64]

All this is currently moot as the WA Premier is seeking to block anyone coming into WA who isn't already a resident. The most prudent thing to do (if you are still coming into WA), is to leave your firearms in your state of origin. It is not quick, easy or cheap to get firearms licensed in WA at the best of times. Nobody on the planet knows how long these disruptions may go on for. These definitely aren’t the best of times.

I would suspect that unless you already have a property lined up to be able to shoot on, your options are likely to be limited to club licences.