It follows a polarised community debate over the proposal, which recently saw leading health professionals and gun rights advocates clash publicly.

On Friday afternoon, Premier Will Hodgman and Police Minister Michael Ferguson issued a joint statement, in which they outlined their reasons for scrapping their original plan.

“We understand that there are deeply held concerns about public safety, and in an area as important to Tasmanians as gun laws, public confidence in our laws is essential,” the statement read.

Mr Hodgman and Mr Ferguson said the government would be making a submission to the upper house inquiry into firearms law reform, stating its intention to closely consider the committee’s recommendations.

This is despite the fact that the deadline for submissions closed two weeks ago.

The committee has more than 100 submissions to sift through, including the government’s.

“There have been more than a dozen occasions since 1996 where firearms laws have been updated and we will be informed by the committee’s recommendations as to what further practical improvements could be made,” Mr Hodgman and Mr Ferguson said in their statement.

Independent Murchison MLC Ruth Forrest called for the firearms committee, established and chaired by independent Windermere MLC Ivan Dean to be disbanded.

“The Legislative Council had a vote on a particular motion which now is redundant,” Ms Forrest said.

“The government is acting in a way that’s disrespectful to the Legislative Council. It’s completely farcical.”

Ms Forrest is not a member of the committee and voted against Mr Dean’s original motion to establish the inquiry.

Mr Dean denied that the committee’s work had been made redundant, saying the government’s decision had made the committee “stronger”, due to the fact that the government had pledged to be informed by the inquiry’s recommendations.

Labor police spokesman Shane Broad described the about-face as “humiliating”.

“[Mr] Ferguson has arrogantly pulled the rug out from under the upper house inquiry into firearms that he supported,” Dr Broad said.