All or nothing: the legal dilemma of identifying a firearm in Australia

There are considerable policy and legal uncertainties around what constitutes a firearm in Australia. These uncertainties are exacerbated by new technologies such as 3D printing. This article traces the origins and developments of the dilemma faced when trying to identify what constitutes a firearm under various statutory definitions. At its core is the question of whether a firearm is the sum of each individual part at a given point in time. This article is the first to identify the origins and characteristics of the dilemma and serves as a resource to assist courts, practitioners, and law enforcement in their efforts to identify whether an object is a firearm. If society is to maintain confidence in the ability of institutions to regulate firearms and to regulate them consistently across jurisdictions there needs to be a broader understanding of, and conversation around, the definition of a firearm.