Are new rules for antique firearms a step forward or a step backwards?

This exemption permitted the ownership of pre-1900 firearms without the licensing, registration and storage requirements associated with more modern firearms.

The original idea behind the exemption - which goes back to the Guns Act 1991 - was that these old firearms were relatively harmless because ammunition was not commercially available and that many Tasmanians valued these family heirlooms and historic artefacts.

But since 1991 ammunition has become more readily available for many antique firearms - particularly from online sales.

The argument that ammo is more readily available than ever before is part of the rationale behind the revocation - and it makes sense.

But there is a second more problematic rationale to the revocation of the exemption.

Society has become more cautious about firearms, and with this, objects that have the appearance of live firearms (such as gel blasters and toy guns).

Tasmania Police claim that removing the exemption will promote community safety.

Assistant Commissioner Robert Blackwood stated that "a firearm can be used to intimidate or threaten, regardless of whether it can be fired. That's why replica firearms are not legal".

Police, courts, criminologists, and policymakers have all had to grapple with how to balance the fear caused by the appearance of a firearm, with the fact that a great many objects without any capability to cause harm can induce the fear associated with firearms.

An endless number of objects can be made to give the impression of a firearm. There does not appear to be an end point.

Other approaches that are less onerous on the owners of antique firearms include being over the age of 18 to purchase but not requiring a specific licence or the storage requirements. Queensland and Western Australia have taken this approach.

As a society, we may be some degree safer with the removal of this exemption, but we must be so cautious of continuing down the path of prohibiting items because of how they look.

History rarely looks kindly upon those that prohibit based on appearances alone. We must be very careful judging books by their cover.