The WA Parliament passed Australia’s strictest gun laws on Wednesday ensuring thousands of firearms will be removed from the community.
The number of guns an individual can own will be restricted depending on their licence.
Primary producers and competition shooters can have up to 10 firearms while recreational hunters are restricted to five.
The complete rewrite of WA’s 50-year-old Firearms Act has also seen the introduction of Mandatory Disqualifying Offences and Orders (MDOs), which strip guns from the hands of serious offenders such as family and domestic violence perpetrators.
Under the changes, anyone who applies for a gun licence must complete mandatory firearms training.
All owners will also be required to undergo a regular health assessment and comply with new storage requirements.
Police want the state’s 90,000 firearms owners to report whether they use illegal drugs, how often they drink, or whether they have diabetes or arthritis in a self-health assessment to keep their licences.
Prospective and current gun owners will have to fill out the self-assessment and give it to their GP who will send their own assessment to police.
The health assessments will be collected over five years.
Licence holders will also have to complete a health assessment every five years onwards.
