Vote to stall WA’s gun crackdown narrowly defeated, as gun lobby is stopped from entering Parliament

A bid to throw out Labor’s new gun laws has been narrowly defeated — by just two votes — hours after hundreds of gun owners launched an angry protest outside Parliament. A disallowance motion moved by Legalise Cannabis MP Brian Walker was backed by all Liberal and National MLCs, as Labor accused Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas of failing his first “real test” by staying silent. But the motion was defeated 17 votes to 19, after more than two hours of debate, and Police Minister Reece Whitby’s warning that unravelling the Firearms Act could spark “anarchy”. The Greens sealed the result by voting with the Government. “This nuclear option that’s before Parliament today, of blowing it all up, is something that can’t be supported,” Greens MP Brad Pettit said. “The advice that we’ve received is that if this was to be disallowed it doesn’t revert back to the 1974 Act, what it reverts to is actually nothing. “It would actually disadvantage gun owners, because new gun owners wouldn’t get a licence, there’s no framework in which to do it. So there is a really important opportunity here for cool heads to prevail.” But Mr Pettit is urging the Government to make further changes to the reforms, that limit most individuals to five firearms, after a public backlash from registered firearm owners over the new online system for licenses. The public gallery of State Parliament was closed on Thursday, as hundreds of firearm owners gathered on the steps outside to protest the new laws that came into effect in April. One protester’s sign declared “hands off my guns”, while another said, “Roger stop Cooking the farmers”. During the rally, an animated crowd often shouted out their displeasure at the laws, with references to the famous George Orwell dystopian novel 1984. Goomalling cattle owner and rally attendee Helen Pollard told The West the laws had caused a lot of stress for gun owners. “I would like them to actually go back to the original, how it’s been since 1973 or whatever it is,” she said. “If that doesn’t happen, at least put a stop on it, stop interfering in people’s lives until they get the stuff organised.” Knowing his motion was destined to fail, Mr Walker told the crowd the fight is not over. “The government, of course, had the overwhelming majority because it was at that time an autocratic dictatorship,” he said. “There was no freedom of speech in this house, it’s a bit different now.” Inside Parliament, Mr Whitby challenged his former TV colleague Basil Zempilas to speak up. “The Opposition Leader is someone that usually talks underwater, on this issues he is deadly silent,” he said, as the Opposition Leader pretended to zip his lips. “He needs to step forward, he needs to support safer guns.” Mr Zempilas issued a statement that didn’t directly address the motion. “We support strong, modern firearm laws that protect community safety and ensure firearms are only held by fit and responsible individuals,” he said. Liberal upper house leader Nick Goiran said the rollout of the regulations had not been responsible. “We’re supporting the disallowance motion this afternoon,” he said. “We, the Opposition, are doing that because despite all of the concerns, despite all of the problems and despite this Parliament ordering a review the simple truth is this Cook Labor Government are still not listening. “All they’ve done is to deflect, dismiss and deny.” Mr Whitby has accused the gun lobby of peddling “distortions and untruths” after police revealed AI-generated scam videos with deepfake impersonations of officers threatening to remove firearms from a crying farmer. He told Parliament that 61,428 legal firearms have been purchased since the legislation came into effect, and that more than 1000 domestic violence offenders and convicted criminals have lost their weapons. “These laws are the toughest in the nation, and they are getting results,” he said.