Gun ‘need’ at Gulgong

"If they're taking the guns, how are we supposed to get feral animals off the property?" Ms Gossage asked.

The Gossages, "Park View", Gulgong, have been able to keep their category D firearms for the past 17 years due to a certificate issued by the now-defunct Livestock Health and Pest Authority (LHPA), from which the LLS took over feral animal control this January.

"We would get Section 15 (of the Firearms Act) certificates from the LHPA every year, which would go to the Firearms Registry to get the licences," Mrs Gossage said.

This special licence applied where a primary producer was taking part in an authorised eradication campaign run by or on behalf of a government agency or public authority to eradicate large feral animals.

Mrs Gossage said they only used the guns to control the numbers of pigs, deer, foxes and wild dogs on the property, and there was a real need for the guns this year as both feral pests and kangaroos ate the fodder they had bought for their stock in the dry conditions.

Mrs Gossage said the LLS for the Central Tablelands region was not signing off on the certificate they needed to renew the licences this year.

Team leader for invasive species and plant health for the Central Tablelands LLS Tim Seears said that was because there was no authorised eradication campaign in place around Gulgong.

"There hasn't been a need (for such a campaign) identified," Mr Seears said.

"There has to be a genuine reason for category D firearms... that is the way the legislation is written."

Mr Seears said the LLS was not anti-gun, and would be happy to work with landholders to get rid of feral animals.

"There are feral goats and pigs around that area (Gulgong)...and for those you would need high powered rifles."

He said the Gossages would need to enlist their neighbours to show the LLS there was a need for a specific campaign, though.

Mr Seears said if an LLS officer was shown damage from feral animals across a number of properties within the area, that could be enough for a campaign to be authorised.

"If category D firearms are needed as part of the campaign, we will support applications under Section 15 for landowners," he said.

"Most people only use category A and B firearms, though."

Mrs Gossage said in the meantime, however, they could lose their guns as they would be unlicensed.

"We'll have to dispose of them or the police will confiscate them."

Mrs Gossage couldn't see why the LLS could not simply sign off on the Section 15 certificate as the LHPA used to.

"By law we're supposed to keep the large animals off our property," she said.

Mr Seears would not be drawn on why the old LHPA might have had an easier time allowing the certificates.

"They would have had a policy on what they did," he said.

The Firearms Registry was unable to provide the number of the category D licences for primary producers currently issued across the State.