Ron Cornish told a parliamentary inquiry the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 had a "massive impact" on Tasmania and politicians needed to stand firm on pressure for changes.

As well as being Police Minister and Speaker, Mr Cornish, was a police officer for 15 years and a member for Braddon for 22 years until he retired in 1998.

He told the House of Assembly select committee on firearms legislation and policy in Hobart on Friday it was "unbelievable" the committee had been reconstituted.

Mr Cornish also took aim at proposed changes to gun laws released before the 2018 state election, describing them as "Rene Hidding's re-election manifesto".

"I would not like to see our firearm laws weakened in any way, shape or form," he said.

"We were a leader on this issue and my position is very clear, I don't want to see our laws weakened at all.

"Regardless of what other states have done, I don't think that's an argument for weakening our law."

Mr Cornish said he was so concerned when he read of Mr Hidding's proposed changes he called colleagues, made public comments and stood for the Legislative Council seat of Pembroke on the issue.

"Having been through the exercise of changing the law and the pressure we got, how difficult it was to get where we got to, getting tri-party support and then to see this policy, which I believe was Rene Hidding's re-election manifesto, I was very concerned," he said.

Mr Cornish believes there is no need for the inquiry, which among other things, is looking at licensing regimes and compliance with the National Firearms Agreement.

"If the policy had been abandoned, why would you reconstitute the committee?" he asked members.

"It's a very inconsistent position by the government to say they're not going to go ahead with changes and then to have a committee abandon it and reconstitute it.

"It's unbelievable."

He agree with committee chair Mark Shelton that Mr Hidding, the former member for Lyons, would have had pressure from farmers and others in the electorate for changes.

However, Mr Cornish said "every member of parliament gets pressure on all sorts of issues".

Bernard Phillips told the hearing he had been shooting all his life and believed changes were needed to clear up storage requirements which were a "very grey area".

He also said there needed to be changes to improve the licence renewal system.

"I'm all for simpler administration," Mr Phillips said.