Who is setting Victoria's gun policies?

The latest edition of the Saturday Paper detailed a whistleblower’s allegations that “the gun lobby’s power over Victorian Labor is out of control”, highlighting several pro-gun captain’s calls from Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan. 

The latest of these, a rejection of caps on gun ownership, came despite support from the Rapid Review into Victoria’s Firearm Laws that her government commissioned, Victorian Police and the Interim Report of the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. 

Caps on gun ownership, which have already been adopted by WA and NSW, and are under consideration in the ACT, would ensure that nobody can create a privately-owned stockpile of hundreds of guns without having to show why they need each and every one of those guns. 

As it stands, some Victorian hunters possess as many as 135 firearms, and some sports shooters have as many as 288 according to Victoria’s Rapid Review. Notably, firearm collecting is a separate reason to own a gun, so according to licencing provisions, these stockpiles would have been acquired for sports and hunting purposes.  

Such large stockpiles prompt the question: “why does someone need that many guns?” 

But even for those who own fewer guns, it’s unclear how much they use them for the reason they provided on their licence application. 

After the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, all states and territories signed the National Firearms Agreement, which requires anyone who possesses a firearm to have a “genuine reason” – such as farming or hunting – to do so. 

However, the standard of evidence for hunting and sports shooting as genuine reasons is low in Victoria. For sports shooting, all someone needs is to be a paid-up member of a shooting club to qualify. Club membership is also enough for hunting, as is owning a rural property, or just having a permission slip from someone who does. 

So, someone with no real interest or sports shooting or hunting can list one of those as their reason for “needing” a gun. It also means that someone who acquired a gun to go hunting a decade ago can keep it – or as many as they want – even if they haven’t hunted since then.  

Most Victorians with a firearm licence with the genuine reason of hunting or sports shooting do not regularly participate in those activities, according to data from the Victorian Game Management Authority and the Australian Institute of Sport. 

Combining the most recent figures on game hunting activity with general sports participation data produces an estimate of 39,128 Victorians who participated in sports shooting or hunting in 2025.

Almost 150,000 people have a firearms licence justified by either activity statewide. According to this data, over 100,000 people did not use their firearms for the genuine reason on their licence last year.

In neighbouring NSW, the situation was similar, with data from before the state tightened its gun control laws showing a large gap between licences and participation.

But the difference is, NSW has now taken major steps to crack down on the loopholes in its gun legislation. Victoria hasn’t taken that kind of action. The latest Saturday Paper may give a clue as to why.