New South Wales has reportedly relented and agreed to allow the controversial Adler shotgun to be reclassified to the toughest of the four categories, opening the way for limited importation to resume.
The states will discuss reclassifying the lever-action Adler shotgun at a Coalition of Australian Governments (COAG)meeting in Canberra on Friday.
The Abbott government in 2015 paused the importation of the Adler 110 shotgun in
the wake of the Lindt cafe siege.
That ban won't be changed until a consensus can be reached on lifting it from the current category A, which allows recreational shooters to own one, to a more restrictive category.
Speaking to reporters, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says one proposal was for the guns to be re-classified as category D, "If for example lever action shot guns with a magazine of more than rounds were classified as category D, that would be available to very few users at all. Basically feral pest controllers generally working for governments"
He says the issue of imports is handled by the federal government but it is up to states and territories to agree classification and regulation issues.
