Gun News

Australia Police Seize Guns from Dozens of Owners Over Personal “Sovereign Citizen” Statements ~ VIDEO

Western Australia – Police in Western Australia have carried out a series of gun seizures targeting licensed firearms owners accused of holding “sovereign citizen” views — a loosely defined belief system that rejects government authority.

The move, authorities say, was prompted by the fatal shooting of two police officers in neighboring Victoria in August.

Gun Seizures & Suspensions

Over the span of five days in late September and early October, police visited 70 properties, seizing 135 firearms and suspending or revoking 44 gun licenses, according to Western Australia Police Commissioner Col Blanch.

“The mission of this operation was simple,” Blanch said. “To validate and verify our intelligence on who may hold sovereign citizen ideologies here in Western Australia.”

He added that police relied on “social media posts and information from other gun owners” to identify individuals who were subsequently deemed unfit to possess firearms. Under the state’s law, only a person considered a “fit and proper person”, whatever that means, may hold a gun license.

“If you have made it very clear that you do not abide by the laws of Western Australia, set by the Parliament, then there is no way that you can be a fit and proper person,” Blanch told reporters.

Yet the people targeted by AU authorities actually followed the rules and had their proper firearms permits and licensing!?

The Freeman Case and Tighter Laws

The crackdown follows the August 26 killing of two Victoria Police officers — Detective Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart — at a rural property in Porepunkah, Victoria. The suspect, 56-year-old Dezi (Desmond) Freeman, remains at large. Police say Freeman, who fled armed into dense forest, had previously expressed “sovereign citizen” views during court appearances.

In 2021, Freeman was recorded in court attempting to “arrest” a magistrate and police officers, and in 2024, a judge described him as having “a history of unpleasant encounters with police officers,” referring to them in filings as “Nazis” and “terrorist thugs.”

Following the shooting, investigators in Western Australia invoked new 2024 gun laws described by officials as the strictest in the country. Those laws limit most individuals to owning no more than ten firearms and broaden police discretion to revoke licenses.

Police Justify the Crackdown

Commissioner Blanch said the raids were justified to protect public safety and prevent future attacks on law enforcement. “In the past three years, six police officers in four states have been shot dead by members of the public, which is unprecedented in Australia,” he said.

The Commissioner cited earlier tragedies, including a 2022 incident in Queensland where two officers were killed by what authorities called “Christian extremists” and another pair of police deaths in South Australia and Tasmania between 2023 and 2025.

A Rare Use of Force in a Country with Tight Gun Control

Despite what politicians claim, Australia’s low crime rate didn’t begin with gun control. The 1996 Port Arthur massacre became the excuse for sweeping confiscation laws that banned most semi-automatic rifles and shotguns, built a national registry, and buried citizens in red tape—but it did not make Australia safer, just disarmed.

When Western Australia’s new legislation passed last June, the government publicly described it as “the toughest in the nation.”

Critics of the new enforcement approach warn that using ideology or social media beliefs as grounds for firearm confiscation could further erode civil liberties in a country where private gun ownership is already heavily restricted.

Meanwhile, the massive search for fugitive Dezi Freeman continues across rugged terrain in Victoria, marking one of Australia’s largest-ever manhunts. Police have yet to confirm any sightings of the suspect, who is said to have survivalist training.