Recent shooting incidents have raised concerns after two separate rural firearms incidents

Recent incidents involving guns in the region have raised concerns over firearm safety.

A man is in a critical condition after being shot during a hunting trip near Oberon over Easter.

On Easter Friday morning (18 April 2025), emergency services responded to reports of a man being shot on a rural property along Campbells River Road, Black Springs, approximately 20 kilometres south of Oberon.

NSW Ambulance paramedics treated the 70-year-old man for a gunshot wound to the right shoulder. He was airlifted to Westmead Hospital in a critical condition.

Officers from Chifley Police District have been informed that the man and his 47-year-old son were securing their firearms on the back of a utility when a round discharged from the younger man’s weapon. Both men had been shooting game on the property.

A crime scene has been established and an investigation into the incident has commenced.

This follows the death of a nine-year-old boy, who died after being accidentally shot at a property near Goulburn earlier this month.

About 11.20am on Sunday 13 April 2025, emergency services were called to a property on Fernleigh Close, Windellama, following reports of a shooting.

On arrival, officers attached to The Hume Police District arrived were told a 9-year-old boy had been injured after the accidental discharge of a firearm.

The boy was treated for serious neck injuries by NSW Ambulance paramedics; however, he died at the scene.

Since then, a man and a teenage boy have been charged over the accidental discharging of a firearm.

The man was charged with allowing an unauthorised person to possess a firearm and not keep a firearm safely.

He was given a court attendance notice and is expected to appear in Goulburn Local Court on May 14, according to NSW Police.

The teenage boy was charged with possessing an unauthorised firearm.

He was given conditional bail and is expected to appear before a children's court on May 16.

Nina Dillon, the mayor of Goulburn Mulwaree Council, told ABC the incident reminded the community to take gun security seriously.

"The community takes gun safety very seriously, and for a young child to lose his life in such tragic circumstances is just terrible," she said.

"Nobody wants to have to live through a tragedy like this.

"Most rural properties have a gun, at the end of the day … they really need to be very careful as far as security," Cr Dillon said.