Police strip 135 guns from alleged 'sovereign citizens' in major crackdown

A sweeping, state-wide operation by the Western Australia Police Force ended with the removal of 135 firearms and 44 gun licences between September 29 and October 3.

Western Australia Police Commissioner Col Blanch said it was his duty as the state's firearms regulator to "establish those who are a fit and proper person to hold firearms".

"The mission of this operation was simple, and that was to validate and verify our intelligence on who may hold sovereign citizen ideologies here in Western Australia," Commissioner Blanch said.

"If you have made it very clear that you do not abide by the laws of Western Australia set by the parliament, then there is no way that you can be a fit and proper person to hold a firearm in Western Australia," he said.

The gun audits in regional and metropolitan WA were conducted as part of Operation Ascendant.

The operation comes as police around the country confront sovereign citizen ideology.

The sovereign citizen belief system is a complex, anti-government ideology in which adherents claim they are exempt from all government authority, laws and regulations.

Police in Victoria have searched Porepunkah bushland for suspected sovereign citizen Dezi Freeman for six weeks following the alleged murder of two police officers.

"In the last three years, six police officers have been murdered by a firearm while attending properties, which is unprecedented," Commissioner Blanch said.

"We lost two in Queensland, two in Victoria, one in South Australia and one in Tasmania," he said.

"We do take it very seriously when we conduct operations like this for the safety of police officers and the safety of our community."