Griffith man Dylan Parks convicted of possessing an unauthorised pistol after police find gel blaster video on Snapchat

Dylan Parks, 26, was charged with possessing an unauthorised pistol and entered a plea of guilty at Griffith Local Court on July 26.

According to documents tendered to court, a video depicting a woman pointing the gel blaster pistol at a cat was uploaded to Snapchat and publicly viewable on its Maps feature on May 31.

The 33 second-long video was linked to an address in the proximity of Ulong Street and Banna Lane. The content led to police obtaining a copy of the video.

At 8am on June 6 police attended a Banna Lane home and Parks admitted to officers it was his gel blaster pistol purchased from the internet.

Police cautioned Parks before asking questions including the attempted blackening out of white writing on the barrel.

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The firearm and ammunition was seized by police.

Parks' legal representative Chelsea Connell said her client wasn't aware gel blasters were legal in some states, but illegal in NSW.

She told the court the offence wasn't sophisticated and involved an image distributed on social media, with the objective seriousness in the lower end of the scale.

Ms Connell said Parks was working full-time and contributing to the care of his child and that he was unlikely to come before the court again.

Magistrate Trevor Khan said the purpose of a firearm wasn't always to discharge it. He warned the charge could attract a penalty of up to 14 years in jail.

"I've had the privilege of seeing a gel blaster pistol next to a real pistol. It's very difficult to tell which one is real and which one is not," Mr Khan said.

"Simply because it doesn't fire bullets doesn't mean it's not dangerous.

"If you've got this in your hand and you come up against a police officer, they have to make a snap decision."

Mr Khan said the firearm could had led to someone fearing for their life.

"I get that we all do things that with hindsight are a really bad idea," he said.

He told Parks acquiring the firearm was the first bad idea and the second was posting it on social media.

Mr Khan convicted Parks, and in sentencing took into account his early guilty plea and limited financial circumstances.

Parks was fined $500 and will serve 12 months on a community corrections order. Mr Khan ordered the gel blaster be forfeited to police.

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