My wife and I are thinking of driving around the country next year. Among all the other stuff, I'd like to take a shotgun or rifle in case we come across some rabbits or pigs along the way or get marooned somewhere remote and need to live off the land.

Is this feasible or will the ironically nanny-state laws in our frontier jurisdictions trip me up? If it is possible, any hints on the easiest way to approach it would be welcome.

South Australia and Western Australia have laws that would be hard to have a legal way forward on that. Unless things have changed for the better (I seriously shot coke out of my nose, laughing so hard as I was typing that).

Yeah I think WA will be the state that will be the hard one.

To go through WA - get a property letter - check your guns in (temp register them) at the first police station when you arrive. Relly not that difficult. You can even legally pay for a property letter from there.... You still have to follow all laws with their use though... of course... All other states respect your home state's licence.

As wonderful as Western Australia is, the damn place is politcially worse than California.

G'Day Fella's,

What ever happened to "Uniform National Gun Laws"!

Happy Trails Sambarman!

FJWH!
Homer

quote:

Originally posted by HomerOz:
G'Day Fella's,

What ever happened to "Uniform National Gun Laws"!

Happy Trails Sambarman!

FJWH!
Homer

It never happened..... Probably lucky or we could all be the same as poor old W.A.

Cheers,
Mark.

Thanks chaps,
I would had imagined NT would be more of a problem than SA. Maybe I could go up through Qld, across to Darwin and down through Alice Springs, leaving out WA - except I can't see any half-decent road home from Alice Springs that doesn't go through SA.

Are rifled slugs still a problem anywhere these days?

Matt, what exactly is this property letter you mention? What might it cost to get one from the wallopers?

Cheers

I thought you could drive from Cairns to Broome all on one road?

I sent the Marine Attache up there to some little tiny town in the middle of nowhere. He ended up taking a bushplane to get there but the locals told him the place had roads to everywhere.

Mark R,

Exactly what I say to people who bemoan the lack of central control.

I've been in WA and I'm now in ACT. The difference is huge.

quote:

Originally posted by sambarman338:
Thanks chaps,
I would had imagined NT would be more of a problem than SA. Maybe I could go up through Qld, across to Darwin and down through Alice Springs, leaving out WA - except I can't see any half-decent road home from Alice Springs that doesn't go through SA.

Are rifled slugs still a problem anywhere these days?

Matt, what exactly is this property letter you mention? What might it cost to get one from the wallopers?

Cheers

No state is an issue, so long as you have a lawful and reasonable reason to be transiting or using the firearm. You can travel through one state with the aim of using the firearm in the next state.

The WA property letters are from property owners - not the coppers. Not sure what ones but I could find out if you need to go that route. You could also say you are going to shoot at a particular competition somewhere.

Saw today you can get the stupid WA permit online.... it is at the bottom of this list and the pro-forma property letter is there too...

http://www.police.wa.gov.au/On...ult.aspx#FirearmsTop

Thanks again, Matt,
I was only going to go for about six weeks (because I didn't want to miss a mate's annual sambar trip at the end of June) but people tell me you need a lot longer to get around Australia.

If there is time to get into WA, I'll get back. In the meantime, knowing how to cross SA on the way home might be a bigger concern. Any thoughts on that? A mate hunts fallow there every year; would a connection with the property he goes to help?

I don't believe South Australia is an issue at all... they respect your state's firearms licence. I dont think you will need solid permission - if anything goes down just say you were planning to stop in at Watervalley for a hunt on your way through. But hell you can just say you are on your way home from a hunt in the NT/QLD. No biggy...

Thank yet again, Matt,
that is very reassuring. Not that I expect any trouble. A middle-aged couple in a humble 4WD should not raise too many eyebrows.

Any thoughts on carrying rifled slugs, anyone?

quote:

Originally posted by sambarman338:
Thank yet again, Matt,
that is very reassuring. Not that I expect any trouble. A middle-aged couple in a humble 4WD should not raise too many eyebrows.

Any thoughts on carrying rifled slugs, anyone?

no, by trouble I mean you just never know what can happen, where you might be questioned. A vehicle accident, theft, roadside search for some reason. I got pulled over in the NT a while back at roadside check and I don't know what the officer saw in the vehicle through the window but he asked to see my firearm licence pretty fast and where I was headed. Also if your vehicle is registered in your name the coppers new scanning technology can tell them everything about the vehicle, your drivers licence and link to your firearm licence too.

You mean carry rifled slugs instead of a second centerfire rifle?
Not sure...maybe...

Yes, registration scanning technology can be a mystery known only to police. Here we've found that without a sticker the driver does not even know if his registration has been successfully renewed. The former Chief Commissioner drove for a year unregistered because the system failed to cope with changing her address - and she was fined hundreds of dollars. Someone else paid too much rego so the computer put it in the too-hard basket and she was fined as well.


Does anyone live in a state or territory where rifled slugs have provisions beyond shotgun cartridges, such as we've had in Victoria?