On 3rd February 2026 our Chair and Principal Strategic Advisor made a submission to the Department of Justice and Community Safety’s rapid review of Victoria’s firearms laws. Our submission reflected how firearms operate as a distinct and foreseeable risk factor in domestic contexts. While many firearms policy discussions focus on public or criminal misuse, our submission centred the everyday, private settings in which firearms significantly increase harm, fear and lethality for victim-survivors.
Drawing on consultation with Partnership members, our submission highlighted consistent practice-based evidence that firearms fundamentally alter the dynamics of family and sexual violence. Firearms increase lethality, intensify coercive control and threats, and deepen victim-survivors’ fear, entrapment and reluctance to report or leave violence. The presence of firearms, even without use, escalates risk and extends harm, including post-separation.
Read the submission here: