A key change to the Arms Regulations 1992 which took effect from 1 February 2022 relates to the secure storage of ammunition for ammunition sellers, and anyone with a dealer’s licence that is selling ammunition (specifically referenced in 8A ‘Conditions of dealer’s licence: security of firearms, etc, at licensed dealer’s place of business’ and 9H ‘Secure storage of ammunition’(of the Regulations).

Police recognise that in the short term some dealers and ammunition sellers might be challenged meeting in full the new requirements of the Arms Regulations Act 1992, including during the time leading up to and during the duck hunting season when demand for ammunition will be high. Dealers may be experiencing challenges regarding supply of materials and trade-person availability needed to upgrade security, in line with their section 8A or section 9H obligations.

Despite these difficulties Police ask all ammunition sellers and dealers to make every effort to meet the secure storage of ammunition requirements at the earliest opportunity. To support compliance, Police will work with dealer representatives to develop a secure storage guidance document for ammunition and make this available in the coming weeks. This will provide further information to ammunition sellers and dealers, to assist them achieving full compliance.

Police ask that where existing store security practices may not fully comply, the following features should be in place:

• Ammunition that is in display cases at or behind counters is at all times actively monitored by store staff; and
• On-floor bulk ammunition is actively monitored by staff and the ammunition itself is bulky and heavy; and
• Other store security provisions such as customer entry door access monitoring, staff visibility, active customer monitoring, and video surveillance exist to maintain supervision of public access to the ammunition in store.