What is the skinny on Australia’s gun laws. Can you carry pistols? Do they need to be registered? Can you conceal? Are the laws largely federal or state(province?).
Briefly - because I’m trying to follow the story on TV.
All guns must be registered. All gun owners must be licenced. There are different levels of licence.
A basic (A/B) licence is easy to get unless you’re a criminal (or have a recent criminal record). It allows the ownership of ‘basic longarms’ - single shot (non semi-automatic) rifles and shotguns. This is easily the most common licence.
Owning a handgun requires a handgun licence. Owning a semi-automatic weapon requires a higher level licence. These are more complicated to get - you have to navigate a complex bureaucracy and you have to have an even cleaner record - but it can be done. I’ve done as have thousands of others.
There are no specific laws on open or concealed carry. If you have a handgun licence, you can carry as you wish.
The laws are state based, but there are efforts to make them consistent across the country, and they tend to be similar.