{"id":63605,"date":"2026-08-02T23:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T23:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/63605\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T23:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T23:14:08","slug":"citizenship-rule-takes-effect-amid-spike-in-queensland-gun-licence-applications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/63605\/","title":{"rendered":"Citizenship rule takes effect amid spike in Queensland gun licence applications"},"content":{"rendered":"

New restrictions on who can own guns in Queensland come into effect today, amid a spike in new applications to register weapons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The latest figures from Queensland Police show a 21 per cent rise in firearm licence applications in March 2026, a month after Premier David Crisafulli announced reforms in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack.<\/p>\n

Several provisions of the act relating to antisemitism are already in effect, but from today only Australian citizens will be eligible for a weapons licence, and non-citizens will need exemptions for sport or work.<\/p>\n

Industry and experts say uncertainty about future restrictions is among a mix of factors driving demand, with women leading the charge.<\/p>\n

Uncertainty spikes demand<\/p>\n

Aaron Lemphers runs one of Queensland’s largest firearms training services, providing accredited safety courses in almost 70 locations across the state.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Aaron Lemphers has been a firearms instructor since 2018. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

He said enquiries spiked almost immediately after the December attack.<\/p>\n

New Qld guns law restrict weapons ownership<\/a><\/p>\n

The laws aim to crack down on rising gun crime and include tougher penalties for drive-by shootings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Literally the weekend after it happened \u2026 the phone didn’t stop,” Mr Lemphers said.<\/p>\n

“They would say, ‘I want to get one before the government makes it harder. I want to get my wife a licence before they can take them.'”<\/p>\n

Applicants must complete a safety course approved by Queensland Police before they can apply for a gun licence.<\/p>\n

In the past six months, Mr Lemphers said he had hired four additional training contractors to meet the rising demand.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A firearms safety course Statement of Attainment certificate is needed before applying for a weapons licence in Queensland. (ABC Tropical North: Aimee Mitchell)<\/p>\n

Figures to the end of May show there were 234,732 issued weapons licences and 1,171,717 registered weapons in Queensland.<\/p>\n

In March, there were 2,387 new firearm licence applications, up from 1,971 the year before, a rise of 21 per cent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Between January and April, applications were up 19 per cent, with more than 1,200 additional applications lodged compared with the same period in 2025.<\/p>\n

New applications receivedYEARAPPLICATIONS202117,353202215,701202318,086\u00a0202419,797\u00a0202519,320\u00a0<\/p>\n

In North Queensland, Bowen Sporting Shooters Association president Marty Duggan said a growing number of women were applying for gun licences and joining the sport.<\/p>\n

“The last 18 months has seen an influx in women joining the club,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Husbands are getting their wives to join clubs so they can share the weapons if the Queensland government do put a limit on them.”<\/p>\n

While the reforms have influenced some of his members to consider new licences, experts who study legal gun owners say there were several factors at play.<\/p>\n

The broader picture<\/p>\n

University of Queensland criminologist associate professor Suzanna Fay has spent years researching Australia’s legal firearms community.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Suzanna Fay says the firearm community have been concerned about what policy changes were going to follow the Bondi Beach attack. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

She said while it was unlikely there was a single explanation for the increase in licence applications, concerns over the reforms were a factor.<\/p>\n

“I do think that the Bondi incident is probably playing into people’s concerns about what might happen to legislation,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s hard for me to tell exactly what is driving that trend and it’s probably more than just one thing.”<\/p>\n

She said nationally there was a longer-term trend of more women becoming involved in recreational shooting and shooting sports, as both clubs and family members increased recruitment.<\/p>\n

Qld government won’t support gun buyback, ABC understands<\/a><\/p>\n

The ABC understands Queensland will join the Northern Territory and Tasmania in rejecting a national gun buyback scheme.<\/p>\n

Dr Fay said firearm ownership often served a different purpose in rural Australia than in metropolitan areas.<\/p>\n

“The reasons for rural ownership are a bit different to city ownership of firearms. It’s really around farm work that’s intrinsic to their livelihood,” she said.<\/p>\n

She said public debate after high-profile incidents such as the Bondi attack needed to be evidence-based.<\/p>\n

“I understand that there are emotions in play, and the fear is very real,” she said.<\/p>\n

“But we need to make sure we have those discussions without driving everybody to extremes.”<\/p>\n

Concerns over future law changes<\/p>\n

The last of the reforms introduced by the state government are due to come into effect in 2027.<\/p>\n

\"Graham<\/p>\n

Graham Park says Shooters Union Australia members are concerned more restrictions may be on the way.\u00a0 (ABC News: Lawrence Jeffcoat)<\/p>\n

But advocacy group Shooters Union Australia president Graham Park said gun owners were worried more restrictions could come, especially as the federal government pursued a buyback.<\/p>\n

“I just think that spending billions of dollars on buying back farmers’ and target shooters’ legal guns and destroying them when we’re in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis isn’t the answer,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said some members had encouraged spouses or adult family members to obtain firearm licences while they could.<\/p>\n

“People respond,” he said. “Family members will get a licence \u2026 which is perfectly sensible behaviour when you’re trying to keep family heirlooms and work tools.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New restrictions on who can own guns in Queensland come into effect today, amid a spike in new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,4279,24353,76134,44252,18194],"class_list":["post-63605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-firearms","tag-gun-control","tag-qld-gun-changes","tag-queensland-country-hour","tag-weapons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}