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Australia Firearm Data Breach Shows Dangers of Gun Licensing and Registration

Monday, August 4, 2025

Australia Firearm Data Breach Shows Dangers of Gun Licensing and Registration

Firearm data breaches are becoming the norm in Australasia.

In 2024, The Australian state of Western Australia enacted what it termed "Australia's toughest firearms laws." According to the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC), the legislation sought to severely limit the number of people eligible to acquire a license to possess firearms “by requiring stronger evidence of why firearms are needed.” The ABC item noted that it is the government’s position that “the possession and use of a firearm is a privilege but not a right.”

The legislation also capped the number of firearms an individual may own to 5 or 10, depending on the type of license they are able to acquire. The ABC report stated that up to 40,000 firearms would be confiscated under the scheme.

To carry out the new legal regime, Western Australia developed the online Western Australia Police Force Firearms Licensing and Registration Portal. Since coming online earlier this year, the system has proven to be a mess.

A July article from WAtoday titled “Deb’s 25 years of administration experience proved no match for WA’s firearms portal” chronicled former administrator Deb Taylor’s odyssey with the system. Taylor stated, “I was having a hell of a time with it – it wasn’t good, and I’ve been [doing this] for 25 years, and I was struggling to try and navigate it. All I could think was so many people are going to struggle with this.”

Another gun owner told the news outlet, “It’s almost as if it’s designed to be deliberately difficult,” and that, “he had spent months being bounced between different customer service agents who had at times just stopped answering his queries.”

The byzantine compliance procedure may not be the worst thing about this bureaucratic monstrosity.

On July 17, the Western Australian ran a story with the headline “Firearm portal paused after security breach exposes gun safe locations in WA.” According to the report,

A Jarrahdale sports shooting club raised the alarm, after it realised persons with expired authorisation were still able to access data including storage locations of firearms registered to the club’s corporate licence.

The West Australian understands the alarm was raised on Wednesday night, when the club contacted police.

Police have “paused” the portal as a result, with the website instead notifying users that the service is unavailable due to system maintenance.

Western Australian Member of Parliament Brian Walker told the paper, “The system is not only faulty, but is dangerously unfit for purpose,” adding, “Those involved have had the physical addresses of their properties shared, including the locations of their gun safes, to every other person on the list.”

In response to the breach, the Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia (SIFA) chastised the Western Australia government. SIFA CEO James Walsh stated,

“First, they leak the addresses of gun owners’ safe storage locations to be published by the media. Now their clunky, largely unusable $35 million firearms portal has been breached with more safe storage locations compromised

“This entire process has been a complete debacle. While the WA Government attempted to sell the reforms as an increase in public safety, they have done nothing but compromise the safety of not only law-abiding firearm owners, but the public as well.”

Gun owners would be right to feel a sense of déjà vu.

NRA-ILA has reported on three separate gun owner data leaks in Australia’s Oceania neighbor New Zealand. In 2025, Israeli gun owner data was breached.

Stateside, the California Department of Justice  leaked sensitive gun owner data in 2022. The breach included the data for individuals who had been granted or denied a Concealed Carry Weapons permit between 2011 and 2021 (names, date of birth, gender, race, driver’s license number, addresses, and criminal history) and potentially implicated other categories of gun owners.

As this ever-increasing list of sensitive firearm information data breaches shows, the only sure way to safeguard gun owner data is to not collect it at all.

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North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Friday, October 24, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Last week the North Carolina General Assembly briefly returned from recess and re-referred Senate Bill 50, Freedom to Carry NC, to the House Rules Committee.

NRA Files Lawsuit Challenging California’s Glock Ban

Monday, October 13, 2025

NRA Files Lawsuit Challenging California’s Glock Ban

Today, the National Rifle Association—along with Firearms Policy Coalition, Second Amendment Foundation, Poway Weapons & Gear, and two NRA members—filed a lawsuit challenging California’s Glock ban.

Major Digital Currency’s Terms of Use Prohibit Firearm and Ammunition Sales

News  

Monday, October 20, 2025

Major Digital Currency’s Terms of Use Prohibit Firearm and Ammunition Sales

So much of the energy surrounding the digital currency space has been aimed at bringing forth a new liberty. 

Urban Crime Spike “the Most Overlooked U.S. Crime Story in Recent Years”

News  

Monday, October 20, 2025

Urban Crime Spike “the Most Overlooked U.S. Crime Story in Recent Years”

It was a standard talking point of the Biden White House that violent crime had dropped by record levels under the Biden-Harris administration, attributed in part to its support of gun control measures.

David Hogg: “The Grift that Keeps on Grifting”

News  

Monday, October 20, 2025

David Hogg: “The Grift that Keeps on Grifting”

At this point, anybody who reads NRA-ILA’s Grassroots Alerts even sporadically is well aware of the shameless, anti-gun self-promoter David Hogg. 

NRA-ILA Files Reply Brief Pressing the U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Its Challenge to the NFA’s Restrictions on Short-Barreled Rifles

Thursday, October 23, 2025

NRA-ILA Files Reply Brief Pressing the U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Its Challenge to the NFA’s Restrictions on Short-Barreled Rifles

Today, the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) filed a Reply Brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a challenge to the National Firearms Act of 1934’s restrictions on short-barreled rifles in a ...

California: Governor Newsom Signs Gun Control Bills Into Law

Monday, October 13, 2025

California: Governor Newsom Signs Gun Control Bills Into Law

For someone who has claimed to be"...deeply mindful and respectful of the Second Amendment and people’s Constitutional rights,” Governor Gavin Newsom has once again proven that actions speak louder than words.

Colorado Joins States in Promoting Use of Red Flag Laws

News  

Monday, October 20, 2025

Colorado Joins States in Promoting Use of Red Flag Laws

First there were the red flag laws themselves, dangerous laws allowing for the seizure of firearms while bypassing a citizen’s right to due process. 

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

California officials’ egregious foot-dragging over the issuance of carry permits has finally attracted the ire of the federal Department of Justice (DOJ). 

Virginia: Wytheville Town Council to Vote on Gun Control Ordinance on Monday

Friday, October 24, 2025

Virginia: Wytheville Town Council to Vote on Gun Control Ordinance on Monday

On Monday, October 27, the Wytheville Town Council is scheduled to vote on a gun control ordinance that would expand “gun-free zones” by prohibiting firearms in Wytheville government buildings, public parks, and community and recreation ...

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NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.