The NSW Nationals are promoting a US gun culture and encouraging vigilantes by calling for an inquiry into firearm self-defence laws, Labor says.
NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro wrote to the Legislative Assembly committee on law and safety earlier this month asking them to inquire into the Firearms Act.
Mr Barilaro wanted the inquiry to examine "persons who believe they are reasonably and proportionately responding to a threat imposed on themselves or their family".
In the letter seen by AAP, Mr Barilaro also asked the committee to look at "how the law can protect victims of home invasion from becoming involved with the justice system".
NSW Labor leader Luke Foley on Thursday accused Mr Barilaro of encouraging vigilantes.
"I don't want a bar of an American-style guns culture here in Australia," he said in a statement.
"The last thing our political leaders ought to be doing is giving encouragement to vigilantes."
Mr Barilaro said a series of events that unfolded after a NSW farmer, armed with an unloaded weapon, had confronted an intruder on his property had "struck a nerve" with him and prompted him to investigate the laws.
Farmer David Dunstan confronted a knife wielding intruder on his NSW Riverina property in September.
Despite never pointing the licensed, unloaded gun at the intruder, Mr Dunstan had all three of his weapons seized by police for allegedly contravening the firearms act.
"I told Mr Dunstan I would inquire into the issues his ordeal raised," Mr Barilaro said in a statement.
"As a result, I have written to the Legislative Assembly Committee on Law and Safety, asking the Committee to inquire into those matters."
The Nationals accused the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party of wanting to weaken Australia's gun laws in the run-up to two country by-elections in mid-October.
The Shooters in May advocated changes to gun laws regarding self-defence in homes similar to those Mr Barilaro raised in his letter.
Shooters MP Robert Borsak says the Nationals have backflipped - but rejected the idea the policy was anything similar to what is seen in the United States.
"It is a little bit ironic, isn't it, that Mr Barilaro would be supporting one of our policies," he said.
"I suppose you could say, politically from Mr Barilaro, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery when it comes to politics."
Liberal Democrats Senator David Leyonhjelm threw his support behind Mr Barialro on Thursday describing the state's current gun laws as "nonsensical".
