Firearm notifications - Mandatory reporting by health professionals

Firearms Regulations 2017 includes mandatory reporting relevant to health professionals which may require specific action to be taken.

Make the report as soon as possible after first becoming suspicious.

Notification forms

The Firearms and weapon notification page on the SA Police website provides copies of the relevant forms for reporting any of the below medical notifications.

Wounds inflicted by firearms

Regulation 97

Mandatory reporting obligations for medical practitioners to report suspected firearms injuries, and requires that reasonable steps are undertaken to retain projectiles or fragments taken from wounds for evidentiary purposes.

Obligations to report unsafe situations with firearms

Regulation 96

Requires medical practitioners, nurses, psychologists, professional counsellors, or social workers, to make a report when they suspect that a patient is suffering from a physical or mental illness, and there is a threat to the patient's own safety or the safety of another person from the patient's possession of, or intention to acquire, a firearm.

Power to require medical examination or report

Firearms Act 2015 — Section 53

Where a person wishes to hold a firearm and there is concern about their physical and/or mental state, the Registrar of Firearms can require that person to submit to an examination by, or to provide a medical report from, a health professional.