Will I lose my firearms licence in Queensland because of my prescription?

What the law actually says

Weapons Act 1990 (Qld), current as at 3 August 2026.

Fitness is mandatory, not optional. s 10B(1): in deciding or considering, for the issue, renewal, suspension or revocation of a licence, whether a person is or is no longer a fit and proper person, an authorised officer “must consider, among other things — (a) the mental and physical fitness of the person”. It is the first item on the list, ahead of convictions, domestic violence orders and criminal intelligence. Compare WA, where health is one of five matters the Commissioner may consider.

Police can require a report from your doctor. s 14(1)(b) lets the officer with whom an application is lodged require further information reasonably needed to be satisfied about “the applicant's identity or physical or mental health”, including “in relation to the applicant's physical health — a report from a doctor about the applicant's physical health” and “in relation to the applicant's mental health — a report from a doctor or psychologist about the applicant's mental health”. s 41 repeats the same power for a permit to acquire.

And can go back to that doctor. Where mental health information comes in as a doctor's or psychologist's report, s 41(4) lets an authorised officer make information in the officer's own possession available to that practitioner and ask them for a further report.

Refusing is not a way out. Under s 41(3), an applicant who refuses to provide the information reasonably required, refuses the storage inspection, or fails to verify identity “is taken to have withdrawn the application” after a stated reasonable time.

The 14-day rule, which is the one most likely to catch somebody. s 24(1): “It is a condition of each licence that a licensee must, within 14 days of the happening of an event mentioned in subsection (2)… advise an officer in charge of police of the change and the particulars of the change the officer reasonably requires.” The events in s 24(2)(a)(ii) include “a change in the mental or physical fitness of the licensee”. Queensland is the jurisdiction that puts a number on this.

Your doctor may tell them, and cannot be sued for it. s 151(1): if a professional carer forms the opinion that a person is an unsuitable person to possess a firearm because of the person's mental or physical condition, or because they may be a danger to themselves or someone else, the carer may inform the commissioner and give any relevant information, including the person's identity. s 151(2): doing so gives rise to no criminal or civil action against them. s 151(3): it “applies despite any duty of confidentiality”. Professional carer is defined to include a doctor, a registered psychologist and a registered nurse.

A shooting club's duty is stronger than your doctor's. Under s 151A, where a majority of an approved shooting club's or historical society's governing body reasonably believes a member is unsuitable to possess a firearm for those same reasons, the entity must inform the commissioner in writing. That one is not discretionary.

Nothing in any of this names a medicine, a prescription or cannabis. The question is fitness, and the Act leaves what fitness means to the authorised officer and the doctor. That is why outcomes differ between applicants on identical prescriptions.

What we did not check. Whether Queensland Police Weapons Licensing publishes a health declaration form, or a policy about prescribed medicines, is not covered here. Everything above comes from the legislation named at the foot of this page. A registry's own form is often more informative about how a discretion is exercised in practice, and it is worth asking for one before you apply.

What happens if it goes wrong

Read off the Act as current at 3 August 2026:

• Contravening a licence condition — which includes missing the 14-day notification in s 24 — is an offence under s 34(1): maximum 60 penalty units or 1 year's imprisonment. Under s 34(2) that penalty may be imposed in addition to revocation of the licence or seizure of the weapon.
• Revocation. s 29(1) lets an authorised officer revoke a licence where the licensee “has contravened a condition… of the licence” (para (c)) or “is no longer a fit and proper person to hold a licence” (para (d)), and the Act's own note points back to s 10B.
• Review. A decision refusing, refusing to renew, imposing a condition on, revoking or suspending a licence is reviewable: s 142(2) — a person aggrieved may apply to QCAT under the QCAT Act — and s 142AA requires the notice of such a decision to be a QCAT information notice, which is what tells you your review rights.

The dollar value of a Queensland penalty unit is set separately under the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld) and is indexed, so read the current figure rather than converting from this page.