Criminal law
Weapons and firearms charges in NSW
Three separate Acts govern this area and which one your charge sits under decides almost everything. A prohibited weapon carries fourteen years on paper but is usually finalised in the Local Court with a two year ceiling. An unlicensed pistol carries the same fourteen years with a standard non-parole period attached. And the licensing regime changed substantially in December 2025, which affects what you are authorised to hold as much as what you are charged with.
Alicia Catron 0407 171 626 or Michelle Simmons 0407 534 594. Our lawyers include former prosecutors. We appear in Local Courts across New South Wales and in the District Court.
On this page
Which Act applies Firearms offences Prohibited weapons Knives The 2025 reforms Firearm prohibition orders Defences Sentencing options Common questions
Which Act applies, and why it matters
Weapons charges in New South Wales come from three different pieces of legislation, and the first thing worth establishing is which one you are dealing with. The maximum penalties, the court, and whether a standard non-parole period applies all turn on it.
Firearms Act 1996
Firearms, pistols, prohibited firearms, and the licensing and registration system. Gel blasters and most air guns fall inside the definition of a firearm in New South Wales, which surprises a great many people charged over one.
Weapons Prohibition Act 1998
Prohibited weapons, listed in a schedule to the Act. Flick and butterfly knives, knuckledusters, extendable batons, nunchaku, slingshots, crossbows, spear guns, tasers, capsicum spray, body armour and laser pointers above one milliwatt.
Crimes Act 1900
Knife offences, which moved here from the Summary Offences Act in 2023, along with the serious offences of discharging a firearm and possessing a loaded firearm in a public place.
Summary Offences Act 1988
What is left: offensive implements, laser pointers in a public place, and a group of lesser provisions. The knife offences are no longer here, which is the most common misunderstanding in this area.
The maximum penalty is rarely the useful figure. Possession of a prohibited weapon carries fourteen years on indictment, but it is an offence that is dealt with summarily unless the prosecution elects otherwise, and in the Local Court the ceiling is two years. The standard non-parole period attached to it does not apply where the matter is dealt with summarily. So whether the prosecution elects is worth more than any argument about the facts, and it is decided early.
Firearms offences
| Offence | Maximum penalty | Standard non-parole period |
|---|---|---|
| Possess or use a firearm without a licence or permit | 5 years | None |
| Possess or use a pistol or prohibited firearm without a licence or permit | 14 years | 4 years |
| Supply, acquire, possess or use an unregistered firearm | 5 years, or 14 years if it is a pistol or prohibited firearm | None |
| Possess more than three firearms without authorisation | 10 years | None |
| Possess more than three firearms without authorisation, one of which is a pistol or prohibited firearm | 20 years | 10 years |
| Possess a loaded firearm in a public place, or fire a firearm in a way likely to injure | 10 years | |
| Discharge a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm or to resist arrest | 25 years |
Unlicensed and unregistered are different things
An unlicensed offence attaches to the person. You did not hold a licence, or you held one but what you were doing fell outside its scope or breached a condition. An unregistered offence attaches to the firearm itself, meaning it was not entered on the Register of Firearms. The two are regularly charged together over the same firearm and they are separate offences.
Where more than three firearms are involved, the exposure jumps sharply, and a collection of three gel blasters in a cupboard is enough to reach that provision. This is the trap that catches otherwise entirely law-abiding people.
Prohibited weapons
Possessing or using a prohibited weapon without a permit carries a maximum of fourteen years on indictment, with a standard non-parole period of five years. In practice it is dealt with in the Local Court unless the prosecution elects, and there the ceiling is two years and the standard non-parole period does not apply.
What counts is set out in a schedule to the Act rather than by any general test, so the question is simply whether your item is on the list. Commonly charged items include:
- Flick knives, butterfly knives, daggers and concealed blades
- Knuckledusters, extendable and telescopic batons, and nunchaku
- Slingshots, crossbows and spear guns
- Tasers and other electric shock devices
- Capsicum or pepper spray
- Body armour vests
- Laser pointers with an output above one milliwatt
Personal protection is not a genuine reason for a permit. The legislation says so expressly. That means capsicum spray, a taser or a baton carried for self-defence is unlawful in New South Wales however reasonable the fear behind it, and the explanation people most often give is the one the Act rules out. It is worth knowing before you buy something online rather than after police find it.
A laser pointer below one milliwatt is not a prohibited weapon, but possessing or using one in a public place without a reasonable excuse is still an offence carrying two years and a $5,500 fine. Reasonable excuse covers occupation, education, training or a hobby such as astronomy, and travel incidental to those, with the onus on you.
Knives and offensive implements
The knife offences moved in 2023. Custody of a knife and using or carrying a knife in a public place or school were repealed from the Summary Offences Act, re-enacted in the Crimes Act, and the maximum penalties doubled. They are now indictable offences that either side can take to the District Court. A great deal of the material online, including advice given to clients before 2024, still shows the old figures.
| Offence | Maximum penalty |
|---|---|
| Custody of a knife in a public place or school | 4 years and a $4,400 fine |
| Using a knife, or carrying a visible knife, in a way likely to cause a reasonable person to fear for their safety | 4 years and an $11,000 fine |
| Custody of an offensive implement in a public place or school | 2 years and a $5,500 fine, and the court can order forfeiture |
An offensive implement is anything made or adapted to cause injury, and anything the person carrying it intends to use to injure or menace a person or damage property. Ordinary objects fall inside that depending on what they were being carried for, which makes intention the whole argument.
Reasonable excuse is a defence to the knife offences and the onus is on you. It covers work, education or training, preparation or consumption of food, lawful sport or recreation, retail and trade, genuine collection, and religious or cultural purpose. Self-defence is expressly excluded, and so is defending someone else.
Since December 2024 police have been able to scan people with hand held metal detectors in declared areas, without a warrant and without reasonable suspicion. More on knives, wanding and summary offences.
The 2025 firearms reforms
The Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2025 passed on 24 December 2025 and makes the largest change to firearms licensing in a generation. It is being implemented in stages, so what applies to you depends on when a provision commenced.
Licence terms dropped from five years to two on 1 July 2026, along with new safe storage and eligibility requirements for permits to acquire. The ownership caps, the reclassification of certain firearms and the magazine capacity limits have not yet commenced and will start on proclamation. A buyback opens on 2 November 2026 for licence holders holding firearms above the new limits or affected by the reclassifications.
The compliance window is where the criminal exposure sits. Holding a firearm lawfully today is not an offence. Holding the same firearm after the provision affecting it commences is unauthorised possession, and depending on the firearm and the number involved that runs from five years to twenty. Anyone in that position should be working out where they stand before a provision starts rather than after.
Full guide to the NSW firearms law changes and the buyback, including what is in force, what is awaiting proclamation, the new limits and how the buyback phases work.
Firearm prohibition orders
An order can be made against a person the Commissioner considers is not fit, in the public interest, to have a firearm. It is an administrative decision, not a court order, and it does not require a conviction.
- You cannot possess or use a firearm, a firearm part, or ammunition
- You cannot be present at a firearms dealer’s premises, a shooting range or a shooting club
- Police can search you, your vehicle and your premises at any time, without a warrant and without needing any suspicion that you have done anything. This is the most significant practical consequence and the one most people underestimate
- Possessing a firearm, firearm part or ammunition while subject to an order is a serious offence in its own right
- There is a review pathway, and the arrangements for administrative review were changed by the 2025 amendments
More on firearm prohibition orders, including how they are made and what can be done about one. Registry decisions refusing, suspending or revoking a licence are separately reviewable, and there are time limits. More on licensing and reviews.
Your licence
A conviction for a firearms offence, or for a prescribed offence including drug, violence, sexual, fraud, dishonesty, robbery, affray, terrorism, organised crime and consorting offences, affects your eligibility to hold a licence. So does an apprehended violence order, which produces a period of ineligibility whether or not any criminal charge succeeds. That is one of the least understood consequences of consenting to an order. More on defending or consenting to an AVO.
Defences and issues
You were authorised
You held a licence or permit covering the item and the use. Where the allegation is that you fell outside the scope of your licence or breached a condition, exactly what the licence permitted is the argument.
It is not what they say it is
Whether an item meets the statutory definition of a firearm, a prohibited firearm, a pistol, a prohibited weapon or a knife is a question of fact and classification. Ballistics and armourer evidence is tested, not accepted.
Not in your possession
Items in a shared house, a shared vehicle, a garage or a storage unit. Possession requires custody or control, and it has to be exclusive. Presence in the same building is not possession.
No knowledge
You did not know the item was there. This arises with inherited property, items left by others, and vehicles used by several people.
Reasonable excuse
Available on the knife, offensive implement and laser pointer offences. The onus is yours but only on the balance of probabilities, and what the item was actually for is the evidence that matters.
The search was unlawful
Police need a suspicion on reasonable grounds to search without a warrant, unless a specific power applies such as a wanding declaration or a firearm prohibition order. Where they did not have one, the item may be excluded, and in these matters the item is the entire case.
Momentary possession for the purpose of handing something in or disposing of it is treated differently from ordinary possession, and it is worth raising where it genuinely applies. Duress arises more often in this area than people expect, particularly where a firearm was being held for someone else.
Sentencing options in NSW
Get advice before pleading guilty to anything. The court can impose any of the following, and a well-prepared sentencing is what produces the best available outcome.
Dismissal without conviction
No conviction recorded and no further penalty. Available at the lower end of this area, and worth pursuing given what a conviction does to a licence.
Conditional release order
A bond, available with or without a conviction, supervised or unsupervised. The standard conditions are to commit no further offence and to appear if called on, and further conditions can include rehabilitation, abstinence, curfews and non-association or place restriction orders.
Conviction with no other penalty
A conviction is recorded but nothing further is imposed.
Fine
Can be imposed alone or with a bond, and is a conviction. Usually payable within 28 days, though the registry can extend the time or arrange a plan.
Community correction order
More serious than a conditional release order, for up to three years, supervised or unsupervised, with conditions that can include community service, curfews, abstinence and rehabilitation.
Intensive correction order
A sentence of imprisonment served in the community under strict supervision, which can include home detention, electronic monitoring and curfews. It is not available for some offences. Breaches go to the State Parole Authority rather than the court.
Deterrence carries substantial weight in this area. The courts have been consistent that firearms offences call for sentences that deter others, and at the upper end, where a standard non-parole period applies, full-time custody is the expected outcome. At the lower end, where the offence is regulatory rather than criminal in character, a non-conviction outcome is realistic and is worth fighting for because of what a conviction does to your licence.
On a written plea of guilty the magistrate has only the police fact sheet and your record. In this area, where the difference between a lawful oversight and deliberate possession is everything, that is a particularly poor way to have your matter decided.
Common questions
Can I carry pepper spray for self-defence?
No. Capsicum spray is a prohibited weapon in New South Wales and personal protection is expressly not a genuine reason for a permit. The same applies to tasers and batons. Possession carries fourteen years on indictment, though these matters are almost always finalised in the Local Court where the ceiling is two years.
Is a gel blaster a firearm?
In New South Wales, yes. Gel blasters fall within the definition of a firearm, so possessing one without a licence is unauthorised possession. Three or more of them reaches the aggravated provision carrying ten years. People buy them lawfully in other states and bring them here without realising, which is exactly how most of these charges arise.
What is the difference between unlicensed and unregistered?
An unlicensed offence attaches to you: you had no licence, or what you were doing fell outside its scope. An unregistered offence attaches to the firearm: it was not on the Register of Firearms. They are separate offences and are frequently charged together over the same item.
I inherited a firearm from a relative.
It is a common way to end up charged and it is one of the more defensible situations, because knowledge and possession both have to be proved and the circumstances usually go to sentence. What you do next matters a great deal, so get advice before contacting anyone about it.
Police searched me and said it was because of a firearm prohibition order.
Police can search a person subject to an order, along with their vehicle and premises, at any time, without a warrant and without any suspicion of wrongdoing. Whether the order was validly in force and properly served, and whether the search stayed within the power, are still questions worth asking.
I hold more firearms than the new limits allow.
The caps and reclassifications from the 2025 Act have not all commenced yet and will start on proclamation. A buyback opens on 2 November 2026 for licence holders above the new limits. Work out your position before a provision commences, because once it does this becomes an offence rather than a paperwork issue. More on the firearms law changes and the buyback.
Will I lose my licence?
A conviction for a firearms offence or a prescribed offence affects eligibility, and so does an apprehended violence order, whether or not any criminal charge succeeds. That is a reason to think carefully before consenting to an order, and a reason to pursue a non-conviction outcome even on a minor charge.
Are laser pointers illegal?
Above one milliwatt, a laser pointer is a prohibited weapon and possession without a permit carries fourteen years on indictment. Below that, having or using one in a public place without a reasonable excuse carries two years and a $5,500 fine. Astronomy, teaching and work all count as reasonable excuses, with the onus on you.
What should I bring to a first appointment?
The court attendance notice, the police fact sheet, any bail conditions, your licence or permit if you hold one, any firearm prohibition order, and any property seizure receipt. If the item was purchased, bring the receipt or listing. If you have none of it, come anyway.
Which Act you are charged under decides the rest
The same item can be a two year matter in the Local Court or a fourteen year matter in the District Court depending on how it is classified and whether the prosecution elects. Both are settled early, and both are arguable.
Alicia Catron 0407 171 626 or Michelle Simmons 0407 534 594. Suite 3.13, 33 Lexington Drive, Bella Vista NSW 2153. We appear in Local Courts across New South Wales and in the District Court. Courts we appear in.