Two mates & myself are headed for North Queensland in June `06 for a 5 day hunt.
We are all uncertain of what legal requirements we have to meet with regard to taking our rifles from NSW across the border.

Can anyone shed any light on this for me, or at least where do I start ?

Thanks in advance
Cheers Morton

Here you go mate, straight from the horses mouth...

http://www.police.qld.gov.au/pr/program/wlb/visit.shtml

In short - if you self drive, just keep your guns unloaded inside the car out of view. If you leave the car, car must be locked. Do not just throw your guns inside the scabbard or gun soft case acroos the back seats - keep it out of view, locked inside the booth.
If you fly, you must notify Mr Larrie Willoughby 02 9691 8463 or lwilloughby@qantas.com.au that you will be travelling with guns and ammo on board of this and that plane at this and that time and he will issue you the permit "for carrying ammo on board of the Qantas plane" Larrie is a manger of "dangerous goods" Qantas dep and he is mostly interested what sort of ammo you will be carrying on board, rifles are his secondary concern. Have your NSW shooters license on you at all times.

Les Kosek
Sydney

States generally recognise firearms licences from other states. So if you are licenced in NSW you should be fine in Qld.

What's the go with the N.T. ? Are they happy with licenses from other states ?Will be hunting there in September .

If you have hunting on your firearms licence as a use you shouldn't have a problem.

To tell you the truth I didn't even give it a thought when I went hunting up there last year.

NitroX ,
With our "uniform" gun laws we don't have anything about hunting on our W.A. license . Think there might be something about "club purposes only" on my wife's pistol license .
Have emailed the NT police . Bound to be 100 yards of red tape to do it legally .

OK, One of the reasons I posted this question was because of an incident involving a young couple I know.

They came to me so the wife could sit for the firearms safety awareness test. In NSW she needs this to apply for her shooters licence.

Anyway I asked her why she wanted her shooters licence along with the other pre-requisite questions I ask each applicant.

The reply went something like this:

We each took 6 mths off work to have a working holiday on our way around Australia.
Husband brought along his rifle for the usual reasons, food for the pot, security etc etc
5 months into the trip whilst travelling in Western Australia not far from the South Australian Border, we are pulled over for a random breath analysis.
The breath analysis produced a zero reading. The police officer obviously bored with events so far then asked whether we had any firearms with us, to which we replied yes.
Husband produced rifle (Sako 22-250)for inspection by police.
The policeman then wanted the bolt & ammunition which were both stored separately.
After giving the bolt & ammunition to the officer he then called for assistance & asked to see husbands permit for carrying a weapon in WA.
Husband gave him my NSW shooters licence which kept & then arrested me for illegal posession of a weapon in WA.
Husband was then carted off to gaol where after 24 hrs he was able to make bail & rejoin me for the trip back home.
Husbands thoughts -
I was most upset with the police involved here, for leaving my wife alone on a deserted country road just on dark to repack & clean up the mess they left when they decided that since I had a rifle I must be carrying drugs as well & tore the car apart in order to find them.
Well they didn`t find any drugs because we don`t use them, I have however now got a criminal record because I didn`t check on state requirements when travelling & more importantly because of propaganda believing smart arse copper who was more interested in glory for himself than doing what is right.
A simple warning would have sufficed, but then the hype that surrounds firearm related crime these days would have most coppers do the same I suppose. It really is a shame the way we`ve all let this go, a handful of pansy do gooders are always getting noticed & getting laws changed while the great majority of us just sit back cop it sweet.

And that is the story fella`s that prompted my question on regulations of interstate travels.

Cheers Morton

Morton

Note I said "generally" in my post above.

Most states recognise each others' firearm laws and licences. WA is probably the exception. WA has always had bad firearms laws. This fellow made a mistake by being honest to an arsehole WA copper. For international visitors WA and NSW may have less reciprocity than the others as well.

***

Another story. Many years ago a group of SA fellows (before the current laws) went on a shooting trip to the NT. They went over to Kunnunnurra to go fishing and visit some friends. So they packed all the firearms under all the other gear in the back.

While in town one of them saw a nice semi-auto shotgun in a shop and applied to the local cops to buy it and take it back home. Back then people in SA were more like trusted free citizens and could just buy them without "permission".

The cop in the copshop asked. "Do you have any firearms with you?" "No" was the answer.

By co-incidence one of the fellows had his hand in his pocket and was playing around with an empty case as this was answered.

Off fishing they went into the Kymberleys.

A couple weeks later driving back on the Katherine road a few kms from the NT border a Police car pulled them over.

"You're not wearing seat belts", he said.

It was the same copper.

He gave a lecture while his partner walked around the vehicle looking in the windows. By stupid chance these fellows had left the gun bags on TOP of the gear when re-packing, BUT LUCKILY a swag blocked the right window. The fellows in front all sat a bit higher.

Getting a warning about wearing seatbelts, "because you bastards when back home in your own state won't pay it anyway!" (he was ffffing right the prick. They wouldn't pay it.), they drove off back to a Territory of 'free' gun laws.

Moral of this long story.

FFFF the copper gun grabbing gestapo bastards!

Well Nitrox,

I really couldn`t put it much better than that.

The important thing for us to to be mindful of these days, is the very harsh consequences of a fairly trivial offence involving a firearm as opposed to the punishments of ten years ago.

As far as I can see, the politicians are simply pandering to the whinging left wing educated types who have a knack for gaining page space in the larger of the print/Tabloid medias & occasionally the idiot box .

Their ability to do this only outlines the politicians inability to deal with crime in Australia.

So, as I see it the successive governments have in the last 30 years campaigned to lay the blame on the law abiding shooter without really addressing the issues at the root of the crime problem.

Perhaps if we looked a little closer at social problems, drug culture, social security, beating & raping 90 yr old women, sentencing terms for the crimes committed etc etc.

I`ll get off my soapbox now.

Nitrox, You certainly inspired me to vent my spleen

Cheers Morton

Here is the info. I received from the NT Police on their requirements for firearms brought in from interstate . Not too bad really .

32. Transporting firearms
(1) For the purposes of section 66 of the Act, a prohibited firearm or a category A, B, C, D or H firearm may be conveyed –
(a) by registered post;
(b) by a commercial freight carrier or a common carrier; or
(c) in the possession of –
(i) the owner of the firearm; or
(ii) a person who is licensed to be in possession of the firearm and who has the owner's permission to be in possession of the firearm.
(2) Where –
(a) a firearm is being conveyed in a motor vehicle; and
(b) the motor vehicle is left unattended at a place away from where the firearm is normally stored or secured,
then –
(c) the firearm is to be placed in the boot, the cargo carrying area or some other lockable compartment of the vehicle or is to be secured by means of a firearm securing device;
(d) the firearm is to be completely hidden from open view;
(e) ammunition for the firearm is to be placed in a lockable compartment of the vehicle (other than the compartment in which the firearm is placed) or in a locked container secured in or on the vehicle; and
(f) the person in charge of the vehicle must take all reasonable steps to ensure that, while the vehicle remains unattended, the firearm –
(i) is kept safely in the vehicle;
(ii) is not stolen or removed from the vehicle; and
(iii) does not come into the possession of a person who is not licensed to be in possession of the firearm.
33. Recognition of interstate licences
(1) For the purposes of section 92(b) of the Act, while a person who is a resident of a State or another Territory of the Commonwealth is residing temporarily in the Territory the person is not required to hold a licence to possess category A or category B firearms if the person is the holder of a corresponding licence.
(2) In subregulation (1), "residing temporarily" means residing for a period less than 3 months.