Independent Aaron Horsman aiming to stand up for firearm owners in Geraldton amid court case

An independent candidate in Geraldton says an impending court case won’t affect his preparation for the State election, taking a “never say never” attitude into the campaign.

Aaron Horsman, who is also a councillor at the City of Greater Geraldton, is facing two charges of inadequate storage facility for firearms.

He alleges police came to his property unannounced while he wasn’t home, a day after they had given him a letter saying they’d revoked his firearm licence.

Mr Horsman said he intends to plead not guilty to the charges at his first court appearance on Thursday — two days before polling day — saying it was a driving force behind why he put his hand up to be a candidate for the seat of Geraldton at the State election.

“This is firearms overreach,” he said.

“The new act is 10 times worse for them to do anything they want to lawful firearm owners than the old act.

“The same thing is going to happen to thousands of people, and that’s why Labor’s got to go.”

Mr Horsman said creating change was necessary, as he believed the State Government had failed people across a number of industries.

“The overreach in multiple sectors of fishing, farming, the reform of the of the Firearms Act, all of those overreaches are needing for a change of government from the situation we find ourselves in,” he said.

While acknowledging he was a “smaller candidate”, Mr Horsman said his ability to participate was a strong part of the democratic process.

“You’d be very optimistic if you thought someone as an independent with minimal funding could win the seat of Geraldton,” he said.

“If things fell the right way, you can never say never in this game.”

Despite relying on his own resources, Mr Horsman said the campaign has not daunted him, having experience previously running for the 2021 State election and 2022 North West Central by-election for the No Mandatory Vaccination Party, as well as nominating as a mayoral candidate in 2023.

In the non-compulsory mayoral race, he secured almost 12 per cent of the total primary votes — 1092 out of 9242.

The city councillor said part of his role in running in the State election was to dilute the number of votes heading Labor’s way.

Mr Horsman has placed fellow independent Shane Van Styn as second on his how to vote card, saying preferences could be the difference in the end.

“A lot of people questioned why I would do that after we’ve had a rocky road of a relationship in politics,” he said.

“But I believe he would be as good a representative as anybody else in this election.”