A further tightening of South Australia's gun laws has been announced by the State Government, including ownership bans for people convicted of certain crimes.

Police Minister Tony Piccolo said the state's Firearms Act was "vague" and had been "amended in a piecemeal way" since its introduction in 1977.

"It's become difficult for both gun owners and the regulators for often actually interpreting and enforcing," he said.

Mr Piccolo said the latest round of proposed changes, the second in less than a fortnight, would crack down on criminals possessing firearms.

"If you've been convicted of a drug offence, for a period of time you won't have the right to actually own a gun because if you look at the number of offences often certain offences go together," Mr Piccolo said.

"Shootings are often associated with people who actually have been involved in drug activity so we want to wipe that out if we can.

"We are also exploring how we might tighten up the rules around domestic violence and gun ownership as well."

A permanent de facto amnesty on handing over unregistered weapons would also be enshrined in law.

Consideration is currently being given to ways to improve gun storage laws, and Mr Piccolo said prospective gun owners would also need to give a valid reason when applying for a licence.

"If you just want to own a gun [so] you own a gun, that would be insufficient reason," he said.

"If you give a reason that you wish to protect yourself, that won't be a legitimate reason."

Changes welcome, judge and sporting shooter say

In 2012, the Australian Crime Commission estimated there were 250,000 long barrel guns and 10,000 handguns unaccounted for across the country.

The Government said as of May this year, there were 65,497 firearms licences and 294,446 firearm registrations in South Australia.

Retired judge Kelvyn Prescott, who is a keen sporting shooter, attended today's announcement alongside Mr Piccolo and said he strongly supported the Government's proposals.

"The view in the sporting community is that these are welcome changes. We need rapid registration of firearms," he said

Mr Prescott was involved in the consultation to draft the laws.

"The majority of firearms offences occur with either stolen firearms or unregistered firearms," he said.

"We as firearms owners can do a lot to carry out our part of what is a community safety issue."

He said he also backed consistent nationwide gun laws.

The draft bill will be put before Parliament after the winter break.