Mantikore said you could inform me on Australia gun ownership, etc. Though to be honest I'm more keen on shooting as sport than owning a gun (which I imagine would involve a lot more paperwork and some kind of government-approved safe) as well as hunting our national icon.

Sorry if this opening post is a bit limited as far as information goes, but nonetheless any information you can give me will be helpful.

http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/community_issues/firearms

That one has most of the information you're after regarding acquiring/keeping them. As for giving the bad news to Skippy, T_S is definitely better qualified than me to answer that one.

Mantikore said you could inform me on Australia gun ownership, etc. Though to be honest I'm more keen on shooting as sport than owning a gun (which I imagine would involve a lot more paperwork and some kind of government-approved safe) as well as hunting our national icon.

Sorry if this opening post is a bit limited as far as information goes, but nonetheless any information you can give me will be helpful.

You actually need a license to kill kangaroos. (legally)

I'm not sure sport shooting involves killing things? I thought that would be termed hunting.

Ok, My memory is a little rusty but, to get your licence for Rifles and Shotguns...

Firstly you'll need to fill out the form to apply for it, which you should be able to pick up from a gun shop. Once you send it in they'll do a background check and provided they ok you in about 2 or 4 weeks you'll get a date to attend a TAFE firearms saftey course and a book with about 60 or 70 pages with some multiple choice questions in it that you fill out at you leisure (Sometimes people have to wait a few months to get into a class) The class itself goes for around 6 hours and it will probably be the most boring day you've ever had. The first three hours is in the classroom and you basically just go through each question in your book and they tell you what the right answer is and why it's the right answer (you can NOT fail, noone even looks at your book). After that you break for lunch and then meet up again an hour later at the range, which is another three hours and a bigger joke than the classroom stuff. First they run through the basic parts on a rifle and shotgun - This is a bolt, this is a mag and so on, followed by a very quick demo on how to clean them. Then you're given 10 rounds of ammo and a bolt action .22LR with open sights and you shoot from prone at a target 25 meters away, Technically you need 6/10 in the black to pass but once again no one really checks your targets and besides the black on the target is about the size of a CD and a blind monkey could hit it. Then they give you an under and over 12ga shotgun and get you to shoot little metal targets about 10 meters away, once again, if you've never shot a gun in your life you can still easily pass this and if you don't they just give you more shells and get you to do it again.

Then you'll get a certificate saying you passed and you can get your photo taken for you license, Make sure you get catagory A and B and state your reson for owning them as recreational hunting and vermin control if you can because if you say it's for target shooting you MUST attened the range 6 times a year to keep your licence. Keep in mind the TAFE course costs about $170IIRC and then it's something like $50 for a 3-year licence or $80 for a 5-year one.

Once you get your licence in the mail it's time to find something to store your guns in, this does NOT have to be an expensive safe. As long as it's made from steel or 1/2" hardwood and bolted to your floor and/or walls it will pass. Then to actually buy a gun you need to submit a "Permit to aquire a firearm" which you can get from a gun shop, fill it out with your details, the type of gun you are buying and a reason why you need it (Let me know if you can't think one up, i'm good at it :D ). This will cost you $12.50 ATM and in two weeks you will be told if it was approved or not. Provided it was approved you will get a yellow sheet in the mail 2 weeks later (28 days from when you applied) which you can them take to a gunshop and buy a gun with. Not long after this police will tell you they're coming to inspect your storage, which is nothing major, they check that all your guns are in there without bolts or ammo, give your safe a bit of a shake to make sure it's bolted down and that pretty much it, 5 minutes max.

A pistol licence will take a lot more time and effort - Atleast 8-12 months, plus they also have added storage requirements and will require you to attend a pistol range atleast 8 (might be 6?) times a year.

Let me know if you have any other questions, i probably skipped over something ;) .

Edit: Yeah you need a permit to kill wallabies and kangeroos but thats as simple as asking for it and paying something like $20 for a year. You also legally need a permit to shoot them while spotlighting which once again will be given to you no questions asked. BTW i call varminting and spotlighting sport shooting since you don't stalk or "hunt" like you do when you go after bambi in daylight hours.

Things have changed a bit.

Since you're in NSW you might want to check this page:

http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/about_us/structure/corporate_services/firearms/licences_and_genuine_reasons

I'm lucky being the owner/manager of a primary producing farm I can get a Cat C license.

Found it.
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/wild-harvest/kangaroo/pubs/code-of-conduct-non-commercial.pdf

Those are the conditions under which you can shoot a kangaroo for non-commercial purposes. I'm in the clear because I can shoot roos to use their meat for fox-baiting purposes. If you want to shoot for commercial purposes you need to do a tafe course and obtain a kangaroo trappers license.

Alright, thanks for the info. T_S that basically summed up everything I suppose, if anything comes up I'll ask you. And thanks IFTL and Kyoki for the links.

I should of mentioned i'm not from NSW, From what i hear it's more screwing around to shoot anything there. Here you don't even need land to shoot on, the wallaby permit lets you shoot on all govt land.

Jesus christ, The day I turned 18 I walked into a gun store and came out twenty minutes later with a rifle.

Jesus christ, The day I turned 18 I walked into a gun store and came out twenty minutes later with a rifle.

So did that psychopathic retard down the street with an itchy trigger finger and a histroy of violence. :)

So did that psychopathic retard down the street with an itchy trigger finger and a histroy of violence. :)

That is not our fault that is the doctor patient confidentiality. If they flagged the crazy dude he would never get a gun.