Firearms Licensing in Western Australia: The New Firearms Act 2024 (2026)

Western Australia now licenses firearms under an entirely new Act, the Firearms Act 2024, which replaced the previous 1973 legislation. Section 25 states directly that a licence must not be granted for personal protection, the most explicit wording of any Australian jurisdiction.

Jurisdiction scope: This page addresses firearms and weapons law under the law of Western Australia only, verified 21 July 2026. It is general legal information, not legal advice about a specific licence application or a specific item. Firearms and weapons licence applications in Western Australia are assessed by WA Police Force.

A New Act: The Firearms Act 2024

Western Australia's firearms licensing framework changed materially with the Firearms Act 2024, which replaced the earlier Firearms Act 1973. This is a genuinely new Act, not an amendment carrying the old name forward, and any source, article or summary still describing WA firearms licensing by reference to the 1973 Act, its section numbers, or its specific requirements, is describing a regime that no longer applies. A reader relying on older material about WA firearms law should treat it as unreliable until confirmed against the current Firearms Act 2024.

Section 25: The Most Direct "No Self-Defence" Wording in Australia

Firearms Act 2024 (WA) s 25 is headed "No licence for personal protection" and provides, in full: "A licence must not be granted to authorise the possession or use of a firearm for the purpose (or for purposes that include the purpose) of personal protection." Of the four Australian jurisdictions that use an express exclusion clause rather than a closed list (the others being NSW, Tasmania and the ACT), Western Australia's is the most direct, naming personal protection as the sole subject of the section rather than folding it into a broader "genuine reasons" provision alongside a list of other exclusions.

A Separate 2024 Change: Capsicum Spray for Lawful Defence

Western Australia is also the only Australian jurisdiction where carrying capsicum spray for defence can be lawful, but this is governed by an entirely different Act, the Weapons Act 1999, not the Firearms Act 2024. Weapons Act 1999 (WA) s 5A sets the general rule that carrying a weapon "for defence" is not a lawful excuse, "unless subsection (2) applies," and subsection (2) allows the regulations to prescribe a specific weapon and circumstances for a defence-purpose exception. The only regulation made under that power is Weapons Regulations 1999 (WA) reg 7, which permits carrying a capsicum spray weapon "for the purpose of it being used in lawful defence in circumstances that the person has reasonable grounds to apprehend may arise."

Both provisions are recent: s 5A was inserted by the Firearms and Weapons Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (No. 33 of 2024) s 13, and reg 7 was inserted by SL 2024/282 r 9. This exception applies to capsicum spray specifically. It does not extend to firearms, which remain governed by the personal-protection exclusion in the Firearms Act 2024 s 25 described above, and it does not extend to tasers, which remain a prohibited weapon for civilians in WA as in every other Australian jurisdiction. Full detail, including how WA compares with the other seven jurisdictions, is in capsicum spray and taser laws in Australia.

Two Different Questions, Two Different Acts

A Western Australian reader should keep these as two entirely separate legal questions. Whether a firearm can be licensed for personal protection is governed by the Firearms Act 2024, and the answer is no, under s 25, in every case. Whether carrying capsicum spray for defence can be lawful is governed by the separate Weapons Act 1999 and Weapons Regulations 1999, following the 2024 amendments described above. Neither Act's rule extends to the other; a firearms licence confers no authority over capsicum spray, and the capsicum spray exception confers no authority to possess an unlicensed firearm.

Storage and Other Obligations Are Not Covered on This Page

Holding a firearms licence under the Firearms Act 2024 carries obligations beyond the genuine-reason test described above, including safe storage requirements. This page focuses specifically on the personal-protection exclusion and the separate capsicum spray change; it does not describe Western Australia's storage rule in detail. For a comparison of how safe storage is regulated in the two jurisdictions where this site has verified the specific requirement, NSW and Victoria, see firearm storage laws in Australia. A Western Australian licence holder should confirm the current storage requirement directly with WA Police Force rather than assuming either the NSW or Victorian model applies.

Why Western Australia Is Worth Checking Twice

Western Australia is unusual among the eight jurisdictions in having changed two separate pieces of weapons legislation in the same year, 2024, in opposite directions of restrictiveness on their face: a wholly new Firearms Act that states the personal-protection exclusion more directly than any other state's wording, and a narrow new exception to a different Act permitting one specific defence item, capsicum spray, that no other state currently allows outside Western Australia. Because both changes happened close together and both involve the word "defence," it is easy for a reader, or an outdated article, to conflate them, either by assuming the new Firearms Act relaxed the self-defence rule for guns, or by assuming the capsicum spray exception extends to other items or other states. Neither assumption is correct. A reader relying on any source about WA weapons or firearms law that predates 2024, or that does not clearly distinguish between the Firearms Act 2024 and the Weapons Act 1999, should treat that source as unreliable and confirm the current position directly.

See the full 8-jurisdiction comparison on why self-defence is never a genuine reason for a firearms licence and the Australia weapons law hub. For neighbouring jurisdictions, see firearms licensing in New South Wales and firearms licensing in Queensland.

This page provides general legal information about firearms and weapons law under the law of Western Australia, verified 21 July 2026. It is not legal advice about a specific licence application or a specific item. Firearms and weapons licence applications in Western Australia are assessed by WA Police Force. For advice about a specific application, item or charge, consult a legal practitioner admitted in Western Australia.