Unregistered firearms and drug premises in New South Wales.

What is the definition of weapon trafficking?

There is no NSW offence called weapon trafficking. The word describes a group of offences in the Firearms Act 1996, and the full text of the Act is on the NSW legislation site. The offences aim at movement of firearms into the illicit market rather than at a single act of possession.

Section 51 restricts the supply of firearms. Supplying a firearm to a person who is not authorised to possess it, without inspecting their licence and permit, carries 5 years. Where the firearm is a pistol or a prohibited firearm, section 51(1A) lifts that to 20 years. Section 51B goes further. A person who contravenes section 51 on three or more separate occasions in any consecutive period of 12 months is supplying firearms on an ongoing basis, and the maximum is 20 years. The jury must be satisfied about the same three occasions before it can convict, which section 51B(2) spells out.

Proving a sale is hard. Section 51D takes a different route. It uses the number of firearms a person holds as the measure of the offending, and it does not require the Crown to prove that any firearm was sold or was going to be sold. The Commonwealth has its own trafficking offences in the Criminal Code, which cover cross-border and international movement of firearms, and those are a separate subject.

How many years do you get if you have an unlicensed unregistered gun in NSW?

It depends on the firearm and on how many there are. For one firearm, section 7A of the Firearms Act 1996 makes unauthorised possession or use an offence carrying 5 years. If the firearm is a pistol or a prohibited firearm, section 7 carries 14 years. Registration is a separate question. Section 36 makes it an offence to supply, acquire, possess or use an unregistered firearm, and the maximum is 14 years for a pistol or a prohibited firearm, and 5 years in any other case. Section 36(2) gives a defence to a person who did not know, and could not reasonably be expected to have known, that the firearm was unregistered.

Section 51D is the aggravated form. Under section 51D(1), a person in possession of more than three firearms commits an offence carrying 10 years if the firearms are not registered and the person is not authorised by a licence or permit to possess them. Under section 51D(2), if any one of those firearms is a pistol or a prohibited firearm, the maximum rises to 20 years. Both elements must be present: the firearms must be unregistered, and the person must be unlicensed. A registered collection held by a licensed collector is not caught, whatever its size.

Schedule 1 to the Act lists the prohibited firearms. It captures machine guns and sub-machine guns, self-loading rimfire and centre-fire rifles, self-loading and pump action shotguns, lever action shotguns with a magazine capacity over five rounds, and self-loading centre-fire rifles and shotguns designed or adapted for military purposes. A single item from that list among four unregistered firearms is enough to move a charge from section 51D(1) to section 51D(2), and to double the maximum. Section 51D(3) allows a jury that is not satisfied of the aggravated offence to return a verdict of guilty on the simple one.

Is there a limit on how many guns you can own in NSW?

For a lawful owner the controls have long been about registration and licence category rather than about a raw number. Each firearm must be registered under Part 3 of the Act, the licence must authorise the category, and each firearm must be stored to the standard in Part 4. The Act now also provides, in section 8A, for a maximum number of firearms a licensee may possess and use under the authority of the licence, a change introduced by the Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2025.

For the criminal law the number that matters is four. Three unregistered firearms held by an unlicensed person is charged under section 7A, or section 7, or section 36. The fourth firearm changes the charge, the court, and the sentencing exercise. That is the deliberate design of section 51D. Parliament treated an unlicensed person holding a quantity of unregistered firearms as a supplier in all but name, without asking the Crown to prove a supply.

What is the minimum sentence for a firearm?

NSW sets no mandatory minimum term for these offences. What it sets is a standard non-parole period for the serious ones, listed in the Table to Division 1A of Part 4 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999. The figures are worth knowing. Section 7 of the Firearms Act 1996 carries a standard non-parole period of 4 years. Section 51(1A) and section 51(2A), the unauthorised sale of a prohibited firearm or pistol, each carry 10 years. Section 51B, selling firearms on an ongoing basis, carries 10 years. Section 51D(2), possessing more than three unregistered firearms one of which is a pistol or a prohibited firearm, also carries 10 years.

A standard non-parole period is a guidepost for a mid-range case, not a floor a judge must reach. The High Court said so in Muldrock v The Queen [2011] HCA 39, on JADE. A judge weighs the objective seriousness of the offence, uses the maximum and the standard non-parole period as reference points, and arrives at a sentence. The Judicial Commission of NSW collects the sentencing statistics and the case law for these offences. In practice, a section 51D(2) conviction brings full-time custody. The number of firearms, whether they were loaded, whether they were stored with drugs or cash, and any link to a criminal enterprise all push a sentence up.

What is the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001?

That Act has been repealed. Its powers were carried into Part 11, Division 1 of the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002, and the sections there still note the provisions of the old Act they replaced. Under section 140, the officer in charge of an investigation into the suspected use of premises as drug premises may apply for a search warrant if the officer has reasonable grounds for believing the premises are being used for the unlawful supply or manufacture of a prohibited drug, or the unlawful cultivation of prohibited plants by enhanced indoor means. Section 141 allows police to pass over adjoining land and to use force to enter.

Section 142 is the section that catches people out. Executing a drug premises warrant, a police officer may search any person on the premises, arrest or proceed against any person on the premises, seize any firearm or other thing believed to be connected with an offence, seize drugs, plants and money, and require any person there to disclose their identity. There is no need for a separate reasonable suspicion about the individual searched. Presence is enough. Section 143 makes it an offence to obstruct an officer executing the warrant. Our note on what to do after a search warrant covers the ground more generally.

The offences themselves sit in Part 2B of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985. Section 36X makes it an offence to be found on, or entering or leaving, drug premises. Section 36Y catches an owner or occupier who knowingly allows premises to be used as drug premises. Section 36Z catches a person who organises or conducts drug premises, or assists in doing so. Each carries 50 penalty units, currently $5,500, or 12 months imprisonment, or both, for a first offence, and 500 penalty units, currently $55,000, or 5 years, or both, for a second or subsequent offence. Section 36Z(2) raises the first-offence maximum to 60 penalty units or 14 months where the person knows a child has access to the premises and is exposed to a drug, a supply process, or equipment for administering a drug.

Two provisions do the defence work. Section 36W bars a court from convicting under Part 2B unless the prosecution proves beyond reasonable doubt that the premises were, at the time, being used for the unlawful supply or manufacture of a prohibited drug or the commercial cultivation of prohibited plants by enhanced indoor means. The court may have regard to fortification of the premises, obstruction of police entering, the construction of the building, and other listed matters. Section 36X(2) then gives a person found on the premises a defence if they satisfy the court they were there for a lawful purpose or with a lawful excuse. A visitor, a tradesperson, or a person who lives at an address without knowing what happens in another room may fall within it, but the burden of establishing it rests on the accused.

What happens if you get caught with a gun in Australia?

In a matter of this kind, one search produces charges under three Acts. That is not police overreach; it is how the statutes are drawn. A firearms charge under section 51D, a drug premises charge under Part 2B, and a charge of participating in a criminal group under section 93T of the Crimes Act 1900 each require different proof, and each attracts a different maximum. Sorting out which charge the proven facts actually support is the first task in defending the case, and it is often where the real work lies. Charges of drug supply and possessing proceeds of crime are commonly laid alongside.

Bail is the immediate question. A charge under section 51D(2) carries a 20-year maximum and a 10-year standard non-parole period, and an accused will often have to show cause why detention is not justified. Our note on show cause and NSW bail explains how that test works. Beyond bail, the defence of a section 51D charge usually turns on possession itself. Firearms found in a house occupied by several people are not, without more, in the possession of each of them. The Crown must prove custody or control, and knowledge. Where a firearm is found in a common area of a shared premises, that proof is often thinner than the charge sheet suggests. Anyone asked to take part in a police interview should get advice first; our note on the recorded police interview explains why. It is worth reading alongside unauthorised possession of a firearm and discharging a firearm with intent.

Frequently asked.

How many guns can I legally own in NSW?

Every firearm must be registered, and the holder must be licensed for the category concerned. The Firearms Act 1996 now provides, in section 8A, for a maximum number a licensee may possess and use under the licence. For criminal law purposes the number that matters is four: once a person has more than three unregistered firearms and is not licensed to possess them, section 51D applies, carrying 10 years, or 20 years if any one of them is a pistol or a prohibited firearm.

How many guns can you carry on your person?

None, unless a licence or permit authorises it and the firearm is registered. Section 93G of the Crimes Act 1900 makes possessing a loaded firearm in a public place an offence carrying 10 years. Section 7 of the Firearms Act 1996 carries 14 years for unauthorised possession or use of a pistol or a prohibited firearm. Lawful carriage is confined to the narrow purposes a licence establishes and the transport rules in Part 5.

What is an example of a drug offence?

They run from simple possession under section 10 of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985, through supply under section 25, to large commercial supply and manufacture. Part 2B adds the drug premises offences: being found on drug premises under section 36X, an owner or occupier knowingly allowing the use under section 36Y, and organising or conducting drug premises under section 36Z. A first offence under any of the three carries 50 penalty units, currently $5,500, or 12 months, or both.

What are the elements of drug possession?

The Crown must prove the substance was a prohibited drug, that the accused had it in their custody or control, and that the accused knew of its presence and nature. The knowledge element comes from He Kaw Teh v The Queen (1985) 157 CLR 523. Custody must be exclusive in the sense described in Filippetti (1978) 13 A Crim R 335, so drugs in a shared area of a shared house do not, without more, prove possession against every occupant. The Part 2B offences are different, because presence on the premises is the conduct, not possession of a drug.

What is the penalty for drug possession in NSW?

Possession of a prohibited drug under section 10 of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 carries 20 penalty units, currently $2,200, or 2 years imprisonment, or both. It is summary, and is dealt with in the Local Court. Diversion is available in some cases, and a court may dismiss a charge or impose a conditional release order without conviction under section 10 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999. Our note on drug possession in NSW sets this out.

How many unregistered firearms are in Australia?

Nobody knows, and any figure quoted is an estimate. The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission describes an illicit market made up of a grey market of long-arms never surrendered or registered after the 1996 reforms, together with a smaller black market of stolen, trafficked and home-made firearms. That uncertainty is one reason section 51D is framed by reference to a number of unregistered firearms rather than to proof of a sale.

To speak to a criminal defence lawyer, call Aaron Kernaghan on 0421 717 019.

This article is written by Aaron Kernaghan, criminal defence lawyer at Good Legal Lawyers, as at 9 July 2026. It is commentary and reflects the personal opinion of the author only. It is not legal advice, it is not a substitute for advice on your own matter, and it does not purport to be accurate or complete. Any matter referred to may be before the court and any person charged is presumed innocent. For advice on a specific matter, contact Aaron Kernaghan on 0421 717 019 or contact the firm.

More criminal-law commentary by Aaron Kernaghan.

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