MontyShooter wrote:A PTA costs $221 in WA? Ouch.
It's like $8 in Vic.
Do you at least get your money back if you don't buy a gun?
Sadly, no. The process is reversed in WA compared to normal states. We don't have a PTA but, rather, every gun is treated as a separate licence (although they are all listed on one bit of paper).
Here, you go to a gun shop and pay for the firearm. Then you apply online and do all the checks through Australia Post where you pay the fee. Then WAPOL decides if it is going to grant you a licence. If they decide not to grant the licence, you are refunded only part of the fee. Australia Post keeps their "processing" part of the fee. In the process you never have direct contact with the licensing authority (WAPOL).
After you've bought it and taken it home, if you decide that the gun is unsuitable, you destroy it somehow (back the ute over it?) or just want to change like for like you have to go through the whole process again with new fees, application, property letter, Aus Post etc.
Listing your firearms is as good as a fingerprint.