A pistol club where Sydney father John Edwards completed his training and stored his guns did not check the references of new members and wasn't aware he had been rejected from another club, an inquest has been told.
The inquest into the deaths of Edwards and the two children he murdered in July 2018 was told on Tuesday the Firearms Registry had required clubs to send a list of references for licence applicants.
But St Marys Pistol Club, founded in 2000, was not legally required to check the references of people applying for memberships - including those of Edwards when he approached in April 2017.
"There's no requirement to do so - we haven't done it yet for the last 17 years," a former senior official told the NSW Coroners Court on Tuesday.
State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan is examining the lead-up to Edwards' execution-style murders of his estranged teenagers, Jack and Jennifer Edwards, including the method in which the 67-year-old acquired weapons.
Despite a long history of domestic violence, the retired financial planner was licensed to operate and possess rifles and pistols when he shot his children on July 5, 2018.
The inquest on Monday heard officials from Hornsby-based pistol club rejected Edwards' membership application in March 2017 and informed a rifle club using the same range of the decision.
But this information wasn't passed on to St Marys.
"At the time of joining, we had no idea (Edwards) went to other clubs and was refused," the former St Marys official said on Tuesday.
"It would be helpful if all the clubs talked to each other as well ... but there's no portal. We do it off our own bat."
Edwards, who stored his three rifles and two pistols at St Marys, removed the handguns from his storage locker on July 4, 2018.
His membership had expired four days earlier but Edwards was within a 30-day grace period that allowed him access to the lockers.
"We would not ask anyone where they're going or what their intention is with their firearm," the former senior official told the inquest.
"No one would ask me about the safe storage at my home."
Clubs weren't obliged to share concerns with each other, the inquest has heard.
Ku-ring-gai Pistol Club officials told the inquest on Monday they rejected Edwards' membership but didn't believe his "aggressive" and "pushy" behaviour met the threshold of posing a threat to "public safety" that would have forced them to report him to the Firearms Registry.
The inquest continues.
