Knowing that a prop would be destroyed almost brings a tear to my eye! But as you said, having it sent back is better than ending up in the furnace/mulcher..
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Hey guys,

Some of you may have at some stage considered buying a prop weapon from overseas and wondered what customs will do with it once it comes to them. I wanted to provide a bit of insight and share my experience of bringing a weapon into Australia. I know a lot of you live in the States so this post won't apply Please check your local laws!

I recently got hold of a rifle from The Chronicles of Riddick and wasn't quite sure what customs would think of it once it arrived. I contacted the state police (Victoria) to hear what they had to say about people possessing weapons. As the rifle in question was, at the time of filming, fully functioning, I was concerned that police and customs would say "Forget about it, buddy!" even though the firing mechanism had been deactivated after filming was completed.

One of the policemen in charge of firearm possession asked to see the rifle. So I emailed him some pics and he had his buddies check it out. He said that it was ok for me to possess it as it didn't represent a 'true' firearm (the rifle is orange in colour, chunky design etc. See my pics and you'll know what I mean), however, customs may actually say otherwise. So the rifle arrived and I didn't hear anything from customs, in fact, I don't even think they opened the box it came in!

So...if in the event you get a call from customs regarding a weapon you're bringing into the country, they may ask for you to provide a firearms license. The police call it a B709A Importation of Firearms – Police Confirmation and Certification Form. You can apply for a license which takes about 2 weeks. Customs can hold the item for up to 3 months before sending it back to the shipper so you'll have some time to provide the proper paperwork. I recommend that you check out the Australian customs and border protection website for up to date info as rules and regulations often change!

So if you're keen on a prop weapon, I've found it's always best to be completely honest and transparent about what you want to bring in!

Hope this sheds a bit of light on the subject.

Happy collecting...
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Thanks for posting 2red. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if many of the props and costumes from Oz were lost over the years?
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So cool, thanks for posting!
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