A man who told police he thought his gel blaster was a toy, has been sentenced in Port Macquarie Local Court.
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Kerry Alan Barker, 51, pleaded guilty to possessing the prohibited gel blaster after he called police to attend his Bombala home due to a domestic argument with his partner on July 19, 2022.
Police arrived around 6pm and located five registered firearms and the illegal gel blaster in the 51-year-old's gun safe.
The court heard Barker, who has lived for a time in Port Macquarie, was apologetic to police. He told them in an interview on July 30 that he "thought it was a toy" that he had purchased on eBay.
He appeared before Magistrate Scott Nash in Port Macquarie Local Court for sentencing on September 14.
Barker was found guilty without recording a conviction and has been sentenced to a community corrections order for a period of 12 months.
"This is an offence that carries a maximum of 14 years imprisonment. I know that gel blasters are lawful in other states but they're not lawful in NSW," Magistrate Scott Nash said in his sentencing remarks.
"For a firearm matter it is at the lower end."
The case is one of several involving gel blasters to come before the court in recent months.
A Wauchope man and woman were charged in August with a string of firearms offences including possessing gel blasters.
A South West Rocks man was also charged earlier this month for possessing illegal firearms, including 20 gel blasters.
These matters remain before the court.
What are gel blasters?
Gel blasters are considered firearms in New South Wales.
According to police, they are typically made of plastic and are operated either manually by a piston air pump or automatically by means of a battery-powered motor.
These firearms discharge hydrated gel balls by means of a spring and air, operated by a trigger mechanism.
They cannot discharge the hydrated gel balls by means of an explosive.
They often have an outward appearance of various handguns, shotguns and rifles in existence.
Section 4(1) of the Firearms Act 1996 NSW classes gel blasters as an air gun, which is considered a firearm, and hand-gun type gel blasters as a pistol.
Gel blasters often substantially duplicate military type self-loading rifles, machine guns and submachine guns which would classify them as prohibited firearms (Item 7, Schedule 1 of the Firearms Act 1996 NSW).
Because they are considered actual firearms in NSW, a person who supplies, acquires or possesses an unregistered firearm could be arrested and charged for possession of a firearm (under Section 36(1) of the NSW Firearms Act 1996) which holds a maximum penalty of five-years for a firearm or up to 14 years for a pistol or prohibited firearm.
Possessing three or more where at least one is a prohibited firearm carries 20 years. You could also be facing charges of possessing a firearm whilst unlicensed (under Section 7A of the NSW Firearms Act 1996).
Section 82 of the NSW Firearms Act 1996 states that if a parent (or guardian) knowingly allows a person under the age of 18 years to contravene the Act, each parent/guardian is taken to have contravened the same provision.
