New shooter (Help!)

[Gav]

Hi everyone,

I need your help to figure out this madness that is our gun laws and to have strategy to minimise the disruption to my life but first, let me introduce myself.

Hi my name is Gavin, i'm originally from WA and moving back in a few weeks time from QLD. I've spent my life in the mining industry and like touring the country 4wding and camping whenever I can. I lived and worked most of my life in the Pilbara and did some shooting in the mid 90's as a young bloke but never picked it up as a sport. I had a chance meeting with some shooters while 4WD in Cape york, they were kind enough to show me around half a dozen weapons they used for animal control. I had a blast and realised I had forgotten how much fun that was. As soon as I returned I started down the path of getting licensed in QLD and I have my first firearm waiting for me at the dealer, a Tikka in 6.5CM. My physical license will land any day after getting the email approval last week and I can't wait to start putting rounds down range.

I'm hoping you might be able to give me some advice. My company is re-deploying me back to WA in early March. I will have had my license and firearm for only a month by the time I return home. From what I can tell there is no license transfer mechanism and I need to start from scratch all over again. I;ve waited 5 months in QLD for my licence and now it appears I need to hand back my rifle and wait another 6 months once I get to WA for the privilege of participating in this sport.

I'm hoping I have this wildly wrong and that there is some way I can move to WA, keep my rifle and go through the WA licensing while still being able to shoot whenever I want. I can get a temporary permit for up to 3 months to shoot in WA, all I need to do is attend the competitions and clubs I would attend anyway.

Well, that's my sob story. If you made it this far thanks for hanging around to hear me out. If you have any advice, method or know someone I can contact to get great advice that I could use to tackle this challenge, I would be very grateful to learn it. Also, if someone could recommend a great club for a new shooter like myself I would appreciate that too.

Regards
Gavin

[targetshooter900]

Hey mate, i noticed no ones replied in a couple days so ill give you my thoughts.
Take it with a grain of salt though because i have not moved to WA from another state, and they have a slightly different licencing process compared to every other state.
When moving from state to state, usually you just turn up there and your interstate licence is recognised, and they give you a certain amount of time to apply for the licence of the state you moved to. Usually its 7 days for CAT C,D,H and 21 days for CAT AB. So you have to apply for the new licence within the set time, once the application is in process, you're sweet and its on them to process it and your previous licence still remains recognised.

The best and only way to know for sure is to call the firearms registry in WA and they should be able to tell you exactly the process for WA.

[rc42]

Hey Gavin, welcome.
Unfortunately it seems that not many licensed shooters choose to move to WA so there isn't much advice on offer here, talking to the WA registry directly will certainly be the best way forward. Your existing firearm can go into storage in QLD but you will need to check at what point you need to surrender the QLD license and get the firearm transferred to WA so you can collect it there.

One note though, your post seems to imply that pest control shooters in Cape York actually let an unlicensed person handle and discharge their firearms, that would be illegal under QLD law and would result in them losing their licenses for the next 5 years and having all firearms and ammo confiscated. I'm sure that they would only have let you watch them shoot from a distance in a safe area and that you 'had a blast' just watching. Please be careful how you word things.

[Oldbloke]

I assume you have looked here.

https://www.police.wa.gov.au/About-Us/O ... s/Firearms

Be carefull. I believe they don't recognise interstate licences.

[bladeracer]

I assume you have looked here.

https://www.police.wa.gov.au/About-Us/O ... s/Firearms

Be carefull. I believe they don't recognise interstate licences.

WA does recognise your interstate licence, but not your firearm registrations.
Your firearms are considered "unregistered" as soon as you cross the border with them, that's why you need a temporary permit for them. You can take the permit out for three months, and can renew it _once_, so you can stretch it to six-months max. Costs about $54 a month. Be sure that they also list ammunition on the permit or it is an offence to possess ammo (or empty brass) for the firearms despite the permit to possess them.

If you are moving there to live you can get a free two-week permit to allow you to transport them to a dealer who will keep them (for a fee) until you have your WA licence.

If you want to use your firearms anywhere other than approved ranges you will need a property owner's letter.

Overall, it would probably be cheaper to leave them with a friend until you have your WA licence, then have a dealer send them over to you.

Does anybody know if you still have to pay the exorbitant WA compliance fee on firearms you already own?

[Oldbloke]

Thx blade racer.

[niteowl]

I assume you have looked here.

https://www.police.wa.gov.au/About-Us/O ... s/Firearms

Be carefull. I believe they don't recognise interstate licences.

WA does recognise your interstate licence, but not your firearm registrations.
Your firearms are considered "unregistered" as soon as you cross the border with them, that's why you need a temporary permit for them. You can take the permit out for three months, and can renew it _once_, so you can stretch it to six-months max. Costs about $54 a month. Be sure that they also list ammunition on the permit or it is an offence to possess ammo (or empty brass) for the firearms despite the permit to possess them.

If you are moving there to live you can get a free two-week permit to allow you to transport them to a dealer who will keep them (for a fee) until you have your WA licence.

If you want to use your firearms anywhere other than approved ranges you will need a property owner's letter.

Overall, it would probably be cheaper to leave them with a friend until you have your WA licence, then have a dealer send them over to you.

Does anybody know if you still have to pay the exorbitant WA compliance fee on firearms you already own?

?? Only the annual licence fee $57 regardless of number. Is that what you mean? Never travelled to WA with firearms licenced elsewhere so can't actually help on that, as already said talk to the FAL for current rules.

[bladeracer]

When you buy a firearm in WA there is some sort of compliance fee for each firearm, in addition to the PtA.

[niteowl]

When you buy a firearm in WA there is some sort of compliance fee for each firearm, in addition to the PtA.

Oh that? Yes and no, they do require a serviceability certificate. That can be done by a dealer, authorized club member or a licenced repairer or manufacturer (gunsmith). These are priced by that person and range from about $20 upwards depending on the organization and how greedy they are. I personally charge $25 for someone who just "walks in" but nothing for a customer.

[Ziege]

you will need to apply for a west aus firearms license, you will need to send your 6.5CM to a gun store here and have them hold it as brokers, they will do a serviceability cert, you will need a safe and declaration for it, a property to shoot on that is happy to give you a letter, and pass the safety awareness test and pay the ridiculous fees then sit around thumbing your ass while you wait for wapol to either approve or deny the license.

cheers

[Ziege]

When you buy a firearm in WA there is some sort of compliance fee for each firearm, in addition to the PtA.

there is no PTA in WA....

[Gav]

Thank you everyone, the advice you have shared is very helpful. I will land in WA within a few weeks so I appreciate your help making sense of this.

Regards,
Gavin

[Diamond Jim]

Application for a new licence will be north of $170, plus a serviceability certificate for the rifle ($25) and a dealer will charge a fee to receive and transfer the rifle plus freight to WA which can be expensive. Gun safe has to be in place prior to taking delivery. You will need a property letter from a property owner (at least 2,000 acres for 6.5CM) if you want to shoot anywhere except a club - including private property. No shooting at all in state forest or other crown land.
If club use only you can get a "club support letter" from a club you are a member of - that does not include SSAA or similar. If your membership lapses they are required to advise WAPOL and your licence will lapse
Good news is that nominally there is only a 28 day "cooling off period" and in my experience they generally approve pretty promptly if you have all the elements in place.