Oatka:
Although the legislation is supposedly "National", only the States have the authority to make gun laws.
However, here are the resolutions agreed to by the Australian Police Ministers on which all State legislation is based.
You will note that in the section quoted, there is no mention of a warrant being required.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
4- BASIC, LICENCE REQUIREMENTS
RESOLUTION
Council resolved:
(a) that in addition to the demonstration of "genuine reason", a licence applicant should be required to:
- be aged 18 years or over;
- be a fit and proper person;
- be able to prove identity through a system similar to that required to open a bank account, that is, a 100 point system requiring a passport or multiple types of identification: and
- undertake adequate safety training.
(b) that the licence:
- bear a photograph of the licensee;
- a be endorsed with the category of the firearm;
- be endorsed with the holder's address;
- be issued after a waiting period of not less than 28 days;
- be issued for a period of no more than 5 years;
- contain a reminder of safe storage responsibilities;
- be issued subject to undertakings to comply with storage requirements, to provide details of proposed storage provisions at the time of licensing, and
submit to a mutually arranged (with due recognition of privacy) inspection by licensing authorities of storage facilities(My emphasis);
- be subject to immediate withdrawal of licence and confiscation of firearms in
certain circumstances. (Jurisdictions may wish to consider appropriate penalties - additional to withdrawal or confiscation - for the failure to comply with security and storage conditions.)[/quote]
You can read the whole sorry mess at:
http://law.gov.au/aghome/commprot/olec/Firearms/100596.html
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The second one took a bit longer to find, but here you go:
http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/campaigns/detail.cfm?ObjectID=175&SectionID=camp_main
You're right -- $11 000 fine and up to 14 years jail time!!!
B