{"id":930129,"date":"2026-10-16T10:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T10:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/930129\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T10:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T10:12:12","slug":"firearms-manufacturer-standing-for-one-nation-in-nsw-opposes-post-bondi-gun-laws-that-ban-his-rifles-australia-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/930129\/","title":{"rendered":"Firearms manufacturer standing for One Nation in NSW opposes post-Bondi gun laws that ban his rifles | Australia news"},"content":{"rendered":"

A firearms manufacturer hoping to represent One Nation in New South Wales<\/a> wants to repeal gun laws introduced following the Bondi beach massacre, after arguing \u201cevery single one\u201d of the rifles he produces was banned in the state.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, One Nation\u2019s NSW leader, Mike Newman, and the federal MP Barnaby Joyce revealed Jeff Bacon would be second on the party\u2019s upper house ticket in the March state election.<\/p>\n

Bacon is the managing director of Oceania Precision, a weapons manufacturer based in Tamworth.<\/p>\n

The announcement of his candidacy was made in Tamworth before Bacon hosted a One Nation forum on firearms legislation attended by gun lobby groups and local gun clubs, as well as Newman and Joyce.<\/p>\n

Newman said Bacon was \u201cnot only a firearms owner, but he is also a manufacturer and also he is an innovator\u201d with \u201cpatents across the world\u201d. He said Bacon would be \u201cmy go-to man on the firearms industry\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bacon ran as the lower house candidate for Tamworth with the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party in 2019. He joined the Nationals in 2023 before defecting to One Nation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On 3 October this year, he said in Tamworth that running for parliament again \u201cwasn\u2019t a hard decision\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest I\u2019d rather continue in my business than be in some way forced to step into politics,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201c[But] I\u2019m going to do everything that I can do \u2013 not only to fight for the repeal of the legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement at the time, Bacon said: \u201cOne Nation will repeal the firearms element of the Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Act, restoring rights to what they were when we had a functioning system before December last year, when the Minns government and the Liberal party rushed legislation through on Christmas Eve.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December 2025, Labor and the Liberals changed the law to limit recreational licence holders to four firearms and primary producers to 10, and legislated for NSW to participate in a joint buyback of weapons with the federal government. NSW is the only state to sign on to the federal scheme so far. It is due to begin on 2 November.<\/p>\n

The NSW parliament also voted to recategorise weapons including straight-pull and lever-release rifles meaning recreational hunters will no longer be able to own them.<\/p>\n

One of the alleged Bondi shooters, Indian national Sajid Akram, owned six weapons on a recreational hunting licence, including straight-pull rifles allegedly used during the antisemitic attack on 14 December that killed 15 people during Hanukah celebrations.<\/p>\n

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Oceania Precision\u2019s website describes its rifles as \u201cbuilt specifically for law enforcement\u201d. It currently advertises one model: a select-fire tactical rifle which it describes as \u201crestricted\u201d for law enforcement.<\/p>\n

As recently as June, it described itself as a manufacturer for the \u201cAustralian domestic and professional market\u201d, according to website snapshots from the Internet Archive.<\/p>\n

At that time, it advertised two models for the commercial market, the straight-pull SP25-TAC and the lever-release Renegade, although archived webpages suggest both have been described as \u201cnot available in NSW\u201d since last year, before the firearms changes enacted after the Bondi shootings.<\/p>\n

In January, Bacon told the Northern Daily Leader that the government\u2019s firearms reforms had seen \u201cevery single one\u201d of his rifles banned in NSW, the paper reported. He said his business would be \u201cbroke in six months if this continues \u2013 we\u2019re done, we\u2019re finished\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in the middle of two manufacturing runs right now,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re on hold right now, we just don\u2019t know what\u2019s happening. We\u2019ve had all of our orders cancelled.\u201d<\/p>\n

In August, Bacon told trade website Defence Connect that his business was at risk of collapse after the gun reforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur entire research and development budget is funded through our commercial sporting sales,\u201d he said at the time. \u201cThese revenue streams have been severely impacted, significantly reducing our ability to invest in ongoing innovation and product development.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The laws recategorising straight-pull and lever-release weapons have yet to take effect. Owners will be able to surrender them over a 12-month period under the buyback \u2013 after which they will become illegal for those on recreational licences.<\/p>\n

One Nation is running on a platform of repealing the buyback and most changes to firearms laws in NSW since the Bondi attack.<\/p>\n

After One Nation won the Farrer byelection in South Australia<\/a> in May, the Oceania Precision Instagram account posted a picture of Bacon with the federal leader, Pauline Hanson. The caption stated: \u201cThe 2027 NSW state election is fast approaching, we need to support the people who support our industry, join the party today.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Tamworth in early October, Bacon said he supported changes voted through as part of December\u2019s reforms which will make Australian citizenship a requirement for recreational firearms licences after the buyback is complete.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened at the end of last year was a tragedy but what followed was probably some of the worst politics that we\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d he said when launching his upper house tilt. Bacon said the weapons industry hadn\u2019t been consulted.<\/p>\n

He cited a survey by gun lobby group the Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia which suggested that half of the dealers in NSW were facing closure.<\/p>\n

One Nation is polling at 25% of the primary vote in NSW, according to a Sydney Morning Herald Resolve poll in September. If that support eventuated in March, the party could win at least five upper house seats. The Coalition was on 24% in the Resolve poll.<\/p>\n

The NSW Nationals voted against changes to firearms laws in December while the Liberal party supported them.<\/p>\n

The opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, has walked back her support since then. The Liberal party announced last month that it would scrap caps for primary producers and freeze the buyback while an inquiry examined other changes.<\/p>\n

The Resolve poll suggested that opposition to the gun reforms among One Nation voters \u2013 at 33% \u2013 was higher than for the other major parties. But a majority still supported the post-Bondi changes or were undecided.<\/p>\n

The poll suggested 63% of all voters supported the reforms, slightly lower than after the attack, while 19% were opposed and the rest remained undecided.<\/p>\n

Newman, speaking alongside Bacon earlier this month, said the firearms debate had become \u201ca very sore point in the regions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Stephen Bendle, a senior advocacy adviser to the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, founded after the Port Arthur massacre, said attempts by One Nation or the Coalition to wind back the reforms was \u201coutrageous politics that ignores the victims and survivors of Bondi and the expectations of the community\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe outrage is being led by commercial interests in the firearm industry. Mr Bacon and everyone else needs to understand that times change,\u201d Bendle said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany industries have to adapt to changing circumstances, whether they are government regulation or market forces. But in every case, the community determines what is in the community\u2019s best interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bacon and One Nation did not respond when contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A firearms manufacturer hoping to represent One Nation in New South Wales wants to repeal gun laws introduced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":930130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-930129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930129","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=930129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/930130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=930129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=930129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=930129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}