Just days after the Bondi terror attack NSW Premier Chris Minns proclaimed what were the “toughest gun law reforms in a generation”, but in the months since, this introduction applications for guns have increased.
Statistics released by NSW Police, revealed nearly 9,000 people applied for a permit to acquire (PTA) a gun in NSW in December alone.
This marked an almost 35 per cent increase on PTA firearms than the monthly average of the previous year. These permit applications took an average of just nine days in December 2025, the fastest recorded approval time over the previous 12 months.
It is, also, despite a mandatory 28-day waiting period on all new or renewal applications for firearms licences.
A spike in permits led to a rise of registered guns, with 15,000 guns registered from June 2025 to December 2025. In December alone, 1,480 guns were registered.
Tom Kenyon, CEO of Sporting Shooters Association of Australia. Photo: Supplied
Tom Kenyon, chief executive of Sporting Shooters Association of Australia, said there had been a rise of participation at shooting ranges in the aftermath of the Bondi attack.
“We absolutely have seen more people taking up shooting. There’s been an increase in licence applications in New South Wales,” he said.
“We’re seeing right around the country, more people getting involved in shooting now as a result [of the gun law reforms]. It’s not just in New South Wales, it’s happening across the country.”
Mr Kenyon believes the increase in participation is due to people wanting to defend themselves post-Bondi.
“A lot of them are couples and partners getting involved in shooting, who know that their partners enjoy the sport of shooting and don’t see why they should lose their rifles and therefore lose their enjoyment of the sport,” he added.
“Many new participants are thinking, do you know what, I’ve been looking at [shooting] for ages now, and it’s probably time I do it.”
But, these increases in firearm licence applications and gun purchases, are not an isolated incident. According to The Canberra Times, in the ACT, there has been a 57 per cent increase in monthly gun licence applications post-Bondi.
Gun ownership was put under the microscope in the wake of the Bondi attack on December 14, and especially the oversight of firearms licences.
To receive a firearms license, applicants must provide a genuine reason for possessing and using a gun, by supplying supporting documentation behind the request. These reasons allow applicants to apply for guns covered by different categories, whereby a licence can be issued.
In NSW, there are eight supported reasons ranging from hunting, farming, sports shooting and collecting.
Categories A and B, allow licence holders to use firearms with a limited ammunition capacity, and are available to applicants for all genuine reasons. The licence for “recreational use” allows legal possession of six guns.
Categories C and D, provide access to higher powered firearms, making them more difficult to obtain, with applicants required to prove they have a special requirement for the gun.
Greens senator David Shoebridge. Photo: Supplied
Greens senator, David Shoebridge claimed a loophole had been created for firearm licence holders to obtain a vast collection of guns.
“One of the key problems we saw with the firearms legislation was you could use the reason to get your firearms licence, then use that same reason again to get your first gun, your second gun, your fifth gun, your 300th gun,” said.
“That’s obviously not how it was intended to operate. There should be a rational limitation on the number of firearms you can have.”
In NSW, there are a total of 261,000 individual firearms licence holders. Of these licence holders, there are over 1 million registered guns. On average, that is 4.5 guns per licence holder, the third highest rate across Australia.
Sports shooting and hunting are the broadest available reason for NSW residents to obtain both a firearms licence and guns.
Financial membership to an approved shooting or gun club is the requirement for these reasons to be accepted by police, as a genuine reason for gun ownership in NSW. Applicants must also participate in no less than four shooting activities of an organised club in a given financial year and complete firearms safety training.
Over 60,000 Category A licences list sports shooting, as the reasoning behind a requirement of licence.
However, according to the Australian Sports Commission AusPlay data, there were an estimated 27,000 people who participated at least once in sports shooting in 2024.
But Mr Kenyon dismissed the data as “absurd” and far lower than the reality, claiming shooting clubs across NSW see over 60,000 people per year participate in sports shooting.
“We know from our own ranges that between 50,000 and 60,000 people a year are doing their four shoots a year just for long arms. That doesn’t include all the other organisations and everything else, just [sports shooting NSW],” he said.
“The idea that only 20 per cent of people who own a firearm with a firearms license, meet their legal obligations is just, it’s absurd. The numbers are an estimate based on a survey that’s voluntary participation.”
Hornsby Rifle Range has been in operation since 1858. Photo: Roman de Vallance
Mr Kenyon believes incidents where Australians acquired guns for terrorism purposes had nothing to do with existing laws.
“It wasn’t a failure of firearms laws at all, it was a failure of intelligence sharing. Had they concentrated on the information sharing, they would have improved one of the three pillars of firearm safety, which is background checks. And therefore, people would have been safe,” he said.
Nearly 30 years have elapsed since John Howard proposed the National Firearms Agreement to tighten gun control in Australia, after the Port Arthur Massacre. But it still hasn’t been fully enforced.
Mr Shoebridge, believes a National Firearms Register, must be introduced to stop any future mass shooting incidents.
“If there’s organisations who are looking at potential terrorism risks, they should have access to a real time database that tells them whether or not people are applying for a firearms licence or have access to firearms. I mean, this just seems blindingly obvious common sense,” he said.
“We now have a commitment from the federal government to implement it within 12 months, and it bloody well should be implemented within 12 months.”
Many Australians believe that Howard-era gun laws have resolved the question of firearm ownership in Australia, but current data offers a different picture.
Main image by Roman de Vallance with Canva montage.
