A rifle promoted as having an 'unequalled rate of fire' of military-style ammunition is now freely available to hundreds of thousands of Australian gun owners.

The Verney-Carron Speedline can fire six shots in about three seconds and is being sold with little restriction because of what its opponents say is a legal loophole.

Anti-gun campaigners warn the weapon's availability will weaken Australia's tough firearm laws brought in after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in which 35 people were shot dead.

New South Wales Greens MP David Shoebridge told Daily Mail Australia the latest Speedline was 'an extraordinarily dangerous weapon' the country did not need in the wake of international mass shootings.

'Look at the US then look back here,' Mr Shoebridge said. 'No one wants us to go down that path.'

Samantha Lee of Gun Control Australia said the Verney-Carron rifle, which has been compared to a semi-automatic, slipped through a legal loophole because it was a new category of firearm

The Speedline .308 was specifically designed for Australia and is being cynically promoted as a 'semi-semi-automatic' weapon, a description coined by its critics.

Because the 'revolutionary' French-made rifle is not technically semi-automatic it has been deemed a 'Category B' firearm along with bolt-action centre-fire rifles, requiring only the second-easiest type of licence to obtain.

Category B licences are held by hundreds of thousands of Australians including farmers, target shooters and recreational hunters.

Opponents of the rifle including Greens MP David Shoebridge and Gun Control Australia say it should be banned or at least re-classified as a semi-automatic weapon.

An advertisement for the Verney-Carron Speedline promises 'an unequalled rate of fire' due to the manufacturer's unique 'Stop&Go' chambering system.

After each shot the user can load another bullet simply by pushing a lever with the thumb and then immediately fire again.

The Verney-Carron Speedline can fire six shots of military-style rounds in about three seconds

The French Verney-Carron rifle is promoted as having 'an unequalled rate of fire'

Five rounds can be loaded into a detachable magazine and a further round put in the breech. A promotional video for the rifle shows a shooter firing six rounds in about three seconds.

'The Speedline is neither a bolt-action rifle, nor a semi-automatic rifle, not a linear reloading rifle,' advertising material states.

'It is a revolutionary rifle! It's up to you to work the lever!'

One major Sydney firearms dealer has even been using its opponents' warning about the weapon to promote it.

An email sent to regular customers has the subject line: '"Semi-semi-automatic" rifle according to Gun Control Australia - now available in .308.'

The Speedline is advertised as requiring only a Category B licence, which is one stop above that need to own an air rifle or single-shot bolt-action .22.

'The brand new .308 version specifically designed for Australia will arrive beginning of October and we were able to only secure 20 rifles available from the first shipment,' the email states.

A new category system for firearms was developed after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in which 35 people were shot dead. A buyback scheme also followed that mass shooting

The dealer was taking pre-orders for the Verney-Carron .308 for a $250 deposit. The total price of the a rifle was $2,995 with a synthetic stock, or $3,195 for walnut.

The rifle has previously been available in Australia chambered to take .300 and .30-06 ammunition.

The .308 Winchester ammunition which the latest Verney-Carron rifle fires is the commercial cartridge from which the military 7.62 round was derived.

It is one of the most popular big-game hunting cartridges used worldwide and in Australia is used to bring down feral animals such as pigs and deer.

Mr Shoebridge has previously referred to the Verney-Carron Speedline as a 'semi-semi-automatic' and objected to its relaxed classification.

It was designed for 'an extremely rapid cycling through of shot after shot' and should not have a Category B classification.

Floating candles for each of the 35 people killed in the Port Arthur massacre lie in a reflection pool at the site of the 1996 mass shooting. New gun laws were brought in after the massacre

'These guns are designed and marketed as being able to send out a spray of military-calibre bullets and they should not be available for sale in Australia.'

Samantha Lee of Gun Control Australia said the Verney-Carron had slipped through a legal loophole because it was a new category of firearm.

'They push the law as far as they can but still comply with it,' Ms Lee said of firearm manufacturers and importers.

'The problem is the law itself is so outdated in terms of the categorisation system we have here in Australia.

'It was set up in 1996 after the Port Arthur massacre and it's quite outdated now because it hasn't kept up with changes in firearm technology.

New South Wales Greens MP David Shoebridge has previously referred to the Verney-Carron Speedline as a 'semi-semi-automatic' and objected to its Category B classification

'I would put it into a rapid-fire category but they're still being positioned in a single shot category and it's just not keeping up with the times.

'It was never the intention of the 1996 Port Arthur agreement that these types of rapid-fire and high-power firearms were available to the general hunting, recreational market.

'They're not meant to be for the general population and they're certainly not meant to be made available to recreational hunters.'

Opponents of the Verney-Cannon Speedline believe it should require at least a Category D licence which is needed for all self-loading centre-fire rifles.

Firearms within Category D are effectively prohibited for all but professional shooters.

To chamber another round in the Verney-Carron rifle all the user needs to do is push the lever above the trigger with the thumb. That operating system leads to 'unequalled rate of fire'

Mr Shoebridge has previously said the Verney-Carron rifle had 'snuck through' importation regulations and has called for it to be reclassified.

'When you have a manufacturer bragging about a weapon's "unequalled rate of fire" it would be dangerously irresponsible for any government not to act.'

'These are a new style of weapons best described as 'semi-semi-automatic' and they must be classified as Category D which would effectively ban them.'

Tim Bannister, national CEO of the Sporting Shooters' Association of Australia, said the Verney-Carron was not a semi-automatic or a lever-action.

'It's not a semi-auto. It can't be an "almost semi-auto",' Mr Bannister said.

'It's like saying a Volkswagen Beetle is almost a racing car. They're nothing like each other.'

Sporting Shooters' Association of Australia's Tim Bannister said the Verney-Carron had a legitimate purpose and a proficient shooter could fire a bolt-action rifle just as quickly

Mr Bannister said the Verney-Carron had a legitimate purpose and a proficient shooter could use a bolt-action rifle as quickly as the Verney-Carron.

'If you are in Queensland and northern NSW and you have a pack of pigs with long tusks you want a few shots,' he said.

'If you're hunting scrub bull in Queensland or the Northern Territory you want a few shots. You want a .308.'

Mr Bannister said licensed shooters with registered firearms rarely did unlawful harm and there were stringent checks in place for gun ownership.

'Whether that person has a single-shot .22 or a six-shot .308 isn't really relevant.'

'Gun Control Australia attempt to create a hysteria over a problem that doesn't exist. They're trying to create fear out of something that's just not a problem.'

'The other thing is the Verney-Carron is a rather expensive firearm. You're not likely to go out and then decide to do something irrational with a Verney-Carron.

'It's like saying you're going to go out and buy and Porsche and do a ram-raid with it. It just doesn't happen, thankfully.'