{"id":395137,"date":"2026-01-06T10:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T10:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/395137\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T10:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T10:45:12","slug":"some-nsw-farmers-say-10-guns-are-not-enough-ahead-of-planned-restrictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/395137\/","title":{"rendered":"Some NSW farmers say 10 guns are not enough ahead of planned restrictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Calls for broader exemptions to new gun laws for farmers and sporting shooters in New South Wales are growing.<\/p>\n

Once the new regulations are finalised<\/a>, licensed individuals will be limited to a maximum of four firearms, with exemptions for primary producers, who can own up to 10.<\/p>\n

Ben Emms is a stock and station agent in Central West NSW and his family has hosted a gun club for nearly 100 years.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ben Emms, pictured with his wife Mandy, is a stock and station agent. (Supplied: Ben Emms)<\/p>\n

He said farmers and sports shooters needed more than 10 firearms because different jobs required different guns.<\/p>\n

“You’ll use a .22 [calibre weapon], a rimfire or a shotgun, to shoot a rabbit,” he said.<\/p>\n

“You’ll use a .222 or .223 to shoot a fox \u2014 that’s about the most common thing you’ll find on most farms.<\/p>\n

“If you’re euthanasing livestock you’d need a .22, if it was cow it might be a .223.<\/p>\n

“If you’re going to shoot pigs or a deer you need something a bit bigger \u2026 something that cycles a bit quicker than a bolt action because they might take multiple shots if they’re on the move.”<\/p>\n

\"Mid<\/p>\n

Xavier Martin has labelled the reforms “unworkable”. (ABC News: Lani Oataway)<\/p>\n

NSW Farmers president Xavier Martin said farmers who operated over multiple properties would also need that range in several locations.<\/p>\n

He said he was worried about the security risk if farmers were forced to move guns around.<\/p>\n

“[It’s] going to mean there’s going to be a whole lot more firearms and ammunition racked in vehicles moving between farms,” he said.<\/p>\n

Sporting impacts<\/p>\n

Mr Emms is also an elite sports shooter and owns six guns to compete, each with a different barrel.<\/p>\n

He said the cap would further restrict farmers who owned guns for sport as well as farming operations.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ben Emms also owns guns for competitive sports shooting. (Supplied: Ben Emms)<\/p>\n

National Rifle Association of Australia executive officer Steve Bingley said multiple firearms were often required for different disciplines when people competed across several shooting sports.<\/p>\n

He advocated for an increased cap for club members, but said it was difficult to put a figure on what that should be.<\/p>\n

“I can’t give you a number \u2026 because everybody’s needs are different,” he said.<\/p>\n

Farmer and Spring Ridge Rifle Club captain Nathan Smith said the new laws would force him to give up part of the sport.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Nathan Smith is concerned he will have to give up parts of his sport. (Supplied: Nathan Smith)<\/p>\n

“I’ve got multiple firearms for each discipline along with shooting pistols as well,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I [would have to] cherry pick which sport I want to do \u2026 because I can’t give up my firearms for animal welfare on the farm or feral animal control.”Greens say 10 guns ‘enough’<\/p>\n

NSW Greens MP and spokesperson for agriculture Sue Higginson supported the reforms but said, as a farmer, she understood the need to use firearms for land management.<\/p>\n

“For some, this will be an inconvenience,” she said.<\/p>\n

“But the reality is 10 guns is a lot of firearms for one person and it’s enough in order to manage land.”<\/p>\n

Ms Higginson said farmers with large or multiple properties might need to look at alternative management options.<\/p>\n

\"Sue<\/p>\n

Sue Higginson has acknowledged not everyone will be happy with the new laws. (ABC News: Nick Dole)<\/p>\n

“Look at who’s your land manager and whether they have firearms licences \u2014 there are ways to work around this,” she said.<\/p>\n

Buyback concerns<\/p>\n

The NSW government will run a buyback program later this year to encourage gun owners to hand in firearms that would no longer be legal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, Mr Emms was concerned gun owners might not be properly compensated, saying a top-line competition rifle cost around $10,000.<\/p>\n

“I have seen things circulate where they’re talking about paying back between $500-$1,000,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There’ll be some people fairly upset if the government starts taking back private property off people for that sort of money.”<\/p>\n

Ms Higginson said the government should be open to discussion about how the buyback scheme would work.<\/p>\n

“If people are really concerned that they will get, for want of a better term, ripped off through the buyback scheme, we should be looking at that,” she said.<\/p>\n

“If it is a matter of a few hundred extra thousand dollars here or there to satisfy people and bring them on board, then absolutely we should be doing that.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Calls for broader exemptions to new gun laws for farmers and sporting shooters in New South Wales are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[210993,6634,75587,20666,13330,75586,5862,43,9959,15158,44,193874,15856,4905,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-395137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-10-gun-limit","tag-agriculture","tag-buyback","tag-farmers","tag-farming","tag-firearms","tag-gun","tag-headlines","tag-law","tag-livestock","tag-news","tag-nsw-gun-laws","tag-reform","tag-shooting","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}