Welcome to Weapons Licensing Group
Weapons Licensing keeps our communities safe, while enabling people with a genuine reason to own and operate a firearm or weapon. Our purpose is to effectively regulate the acquisition, possession, use and disposal of registered firearms and weapons in the interests of community safety.
For more up-to-date information about licensing visit our Weapons News section.
Please do not use general enquiry methods to ask about the status of applications unless there is an urgent need, so our staff can focus on processing and issuing applications.
Weapons Applications Online (WAO) and Online Licence Verification service outage
Due to scheduled maintenance, WAO and our Online Licence Verification service will be offline and unavailable for use between 5pm and 7pm Wednesday May 6.
Weapons Applications Online (WAO) confirmation email delays 07/05/2026
Due to planned system maintenance, applicants may experience a delay receiving emails confirming their applications have been successfully submitted.
Current average online application timeframes as at 03/05/2026
- New licence applications - 15 weeks
- Permit to acquire applications - 13 days
Any delays or extensions to these time frames may be a result of insufficient information on behalf of the applicant or where the applicant may be asked for further information as identified by the Authorised Officer.
Weapons Licensing will always proceed with the principles of individual and community safety when making decisions on applications.
A Permit to Acquire applied for using a new licence application case reference, in accordance with section 39 of the Weapons Act 1990, requires the determination of the licence before the Permit to Acquire is actioned.
Licences and weapons in Queensland
As at 03/05/2026, in Queensland there are:
- Issued licences: 234,312
- Licensees: 212,002
- Total number of registered weapons: 1,170,083
FACT Sheets Frequently Asked Questions Weapons Licensing Group News
Important changes
2027 Storage Compliance changes - The Fighting Antisemitism and Keeping guns out of the Hands of Terrorists and Criminals Amendment Act 2026 will introduce changes to storage requirements for Queensland weapons licence holders. Are you ready? Check out our news page for further information.
Self-Assessment Tool – Eligibility to hold a weapons licence. The Qld Community Safety Act has amended the Weapons Act 1990 (Qld) and inserted new eligibility requirements to hold a weapons licence. The self-assessment tool is a resource that initially helps you to determine how well you meet the eligibility requirements to hold a weapons licence. The results of the self-assessment does not determine whether or not you will be granted a weapons licence.
Do these changes affect you?