New safety standards on tiny batteries may halt gun sight sales

This new safety standard means popular red dot and holographic gun sights fail to comply and must be withdrawn from sale.

Hunting groups claim they were blindsided by the move which only came into force on Wednesday and have urgently sought more information from the Federal government.

Those groups said they believed hunters with existing gun sights using the electronic aid could still keep them.

The law in question is called the Consumer Goods (Products Containing Button/Coin Batteries) Safety Standard.

It also applies to remote controls, toys, anything which contains the button batteries.

The new safety standard is designed to regulate the use of these batteries which have caused serious injuries to children.

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There are fines of up to $10 million for businesses and $500,000 for individuals breaching the laws.

The new safety standard seeks to ban products which allow easy access to the dangerous batteries.

Groups like the Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia and Shooters Union Australia said because the firearms industry was not forewarned about the new standard, manufacturers had not had time to modify their products.

In most cases, these sights are powered by a button battery which is located in a compartment able to access by a coin used as a screwdriver.

This easy access is not considered to meet the new guidelines.

The hunting groups say they have made urgent approaches to the government for more information.