Crossbench senator David Leyonhjelm says high capacity Adler shotguns should be allowed to be imported into Australia.
A temporary import ban was put in place last year and that was due to expire in July, but has been extended.
Senator Leyonhjelm says in doing so, the federal government has reneged on a written agreement with him.
He says government ministers Peter Dutton and Michael Keenan had agreed to lift the ban in return for getting his vote on legislation, such as support for the reintroduction of the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
"It's not about lessening gun laws, I've never said that, I've never sought that and that's not what this is about. This is about trust. If I do a deal with the government and they won't stand by it, how can I possibly talk to them again in future? How can anyone on the crossbench possibly deal with a government that won't keep its word?"
Justice Minister Michael Keenan told parliament the temporary import ban was imposed to give the states and territories time to work out how the high capacity shotguns should be classified.
He says the ban has been extended because those discussions are continuing.
"We took action to restrict their import until we could start and complete a conversation with the states about what is the appropriate classification for lever action shotguns. Those conversations have been ongoing, but they're not yet concluded because we have not yet got agreement between the states. And so we have said that the ban will remain in place until we have that agreement with the states. Now, I'm hopeful that we will get that agreement soon, but the government has been very clear, very clear that the temporary import ban is going to remain until that time."
Labor used parliamentary Question Time to argue the federal government is horse trading over gun laws.
Their case was seemingly strengthened by a post on social media from former Prime Minister Tony Abbott in which he wrote that it was disturbing to see reports of horse trading on gun laws.
Malcolm Turnbull says Australia's gun laws aren't being weakened.
"There is no chance at all, no prospect whatsoever, no proposal to weaken John Howard's gun laws. What has been identified is an area in his gun laws where there needs to be strengthening and that is what is before the relevant ministers at the moment."
