Weapons Act offences in Queensland

Categories drive everything

Weapons are grouped into categories by the Weapons Categories Regulation 1997 (Qld). Category A and B covers most rifles and shotguns. Category C and E covers self loading rimfires and certain military style weapons. Category H is handguns. Category R is restricted, including machine guns. Category M covers items like flick knives, knuckle dusters and extendable batons.

Section 50 also imposes mandatory minimum terms in defined circumstances, including where a person uses a firearm to commit an indictable offence, possesses a firearm to facilitate one, or unlawfully possesses a short firearm in a public place without reasonable excuse. Those minimums must be served wholly in a corrective services facility.

Knives in public

Section 51 makes it an offence to physically possess a knife in a public place or a school without a reasonable excuse. The maximum is 50 penalty units or 18 months imprisonment for a first offence, and 100 penalty units or 2 years for a second or later offence. Publishing material about the offence on social media is a further circumstance of aggravation.

Reasonable excuses are listed in section 51(2) and include using the knife for work, a lawful activity such as fishing or camping, food preparation, lawful entertainment or sport, exhibiting it, and genuine religious purposes. Section 51(3) is explicit that self defence is not a reasonable excuse, and that is the single most common misunderstanding in these cases.

Licensed shooters and storage offences

A large share of Weapons Act charges are brought against licensed firearm owners after a police inspection, not against criminals. Common ones:

• Section 60, failing to store a weapon securely in accordance with the requirements for its category.
• Section 50B, possessing a weapon and failing to take reasonable precautions against loss or theft.
• Section 36, possession of a weapon by an unlicensed person, including where a licence has lapsed.

A conviction under most of these provisions results in the licence being revoked, and section 29 of the Weapons Act makes a person who is convicted of certain offences ineligible to hold a licence for a period. A domestic violence order alone will usually cost you the licence irrespective of any charge.

Defences and mitigation

• Possession. The prosecution must prove custody or control and knowledge. Weapons found in a shared vehicle or a house occupied by several people generate real disputes.
• Reasonable excuse. For section 51 knife charges this is the whole case. The excuse must relate to the actual purpose at the time, and evidence of it, such as a work roster or fishing gear in the car, is far better than an assertion.
• Whether the item is a weapon. Category M items and imitation firearms both generate arguable questions about classification. The regulation definitions are technical.
• Licence status. Administrative lapses, renewal notices sent to an old address and permit conditions are frequently the real explanation, and prosecutors often accept that once the paperwork is put in front of them.

If your work depends on a firearms licence, or you hold one for primary production, say so early. It is directly relevant to whether a conviction is recorded under section 12 of the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld) and to what happens to your existing weapons.