A Queensland man who allegedly threatened to shoot police officers and attempted to sue the police force for $100 million through a sovereign citizen pseudo-court has had his gun license revoked.
Andrew Brian Gilligan, 61, from Chinchilla, on the Western Downs, fell into a sovereign citizen crowd after an incident with security at a local club that left him severely injured in 2019.
In a statement given to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, where he was fighting the loss of his license, Gilligan said he became disillusioned about a lack of police action against the security guards, and attended a meeting called the Book Club, in nearby Dalby in 2022.
The Book Club was an anti-government group, which led to his involvement with something called the Peoples Court.
A man, who the tribunal called Barry, said he could help Gilligan get justice for the club incident, and prepared a series of documents for him to sign to become “independent of the state and government agencies”.
On this paperwork, Gilligan’s occupation was described as “Galactic Emissary” with a listed address of “Planet known as Earth”.
Tribunal member Richard Oliver said readers would be forgiven for not understanding the 40-page document that followed, which Gilligan signed each page of, and said it could be described as “gobbledygook”.
Attached to the document declaring he would no longer be listening to Australian authorities, was an “invoice notice” to the Queensland Police Service for $100 million, and a “bill of lading”.
“This document purported to establish that the Queensland Government, through the Honourable Curtis Pitt had been served with the applicant’s Statement of Truth and Declaration formally disassociating himself from the laws and customs of the State and Commonwealth,” Oliver said in his decision.
In his submissions, Gilligan said no violence or uprising was discussed at the Book Club or Peoples Court, which Oliver said was supported by evidence, and argued he didn’t understand the paperwork Barry had compiled.
He also denied allegations made in a separate court matter that he believed were the main reasons for having his gun licence renewed in 2024.
Among those allegations were that he was a “self-announced sovereign-citizen”, that he was stockpiling explosives and firearms, and that he had said a “war was coming” and “if police try to come onto the property, I will shoot them and feed them to the pigs”.
Gilligan had faced charges related to whether he was authorised to have explosives, but they were dismissed by a magistrate in 2024, which those allegations formed part of.
Oliver said he would not rely on them in his decision on whether Gilligan was fit to hold a gun license, and the statements were allegedly made before Gilligan’s involvement with the Book Club.
Oliver found although Gilligan had “disassociated himself” from the sovereign citizen ideology, he still harboured resentment about the club event, before ruling in his firearm license should not be renewed.
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