Police also want to add serious family violence offenders to the list.

Of the 53 people slapped with an order since May 9, the youngest of which was 17, most are bikies and gangsters. But police say a small number are at risk of becoming terrorists.

“We have issued them to persons of interests who ... the public would say are on our watch list,” Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said.

There have been at least three terrorist attacks in Victoria in the past four years and six plots foiled.

Firearm prohibition orders were created in response to a wave of shootings in Melbourne, spurred by the availability of weapons and a thriving gun culture among gangsters and bikies settling trivial disputes.

“This is about criminals. It’s about serious and organised crime, and it really is giving us the ability to do what the community expects us to do, and that is to disrupt,” Mr Patton said.

Police searched about 40 homes when they served the orders and while they found ammunition and silencers, they found no guns.

Mr Patton said the orders aren’t necessarily about finding firearms.

“You don’t just measure the success of this in the recovery of firearms, it’s about disruption and denying accessibility to the firearms,” he said.

The orders - overseen by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission - will last for up to a decade for adults and five years for youth. Recipients can appeal halfway through if they show a change in circumstances.

None of the 53 - several of whom are in prison on remand or on bail - has so far lodged an appeal through the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, but there has been some backlash.

Former Bandido bikie Toby Mitchell called it a “waste of time and money” when he posted a photo of his order on social media.

“All you have to do is look at my history to know I don’t carry or use guns - shot on a number of occasions, but never been the one shooting,” he wrote.

One recent recipient of an order told detectives, “You’re killing me, I can’t tool up anymore,” in response to no longer being able to carry a gun.

This is the exact response police say they want.

“They are well aware the game has changed,” Armed Crime Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Burnett said.

“We want them to think twice about carrying a firearm because if they carry one, they’re more prone to use it.”

Recipients are not necessarily on the police’s hit list either. In Mildura last week, a man was served with a prohibition order after he allegedly fired a gun during an aggravated burglary.

NSW introduced the orders five years ago after a similar spate of shootings. There are 3657 people currently on an order.

An Ombudsman review, which recommended more police powers, found the searches were “generally consistent” with the law’s intention, but some had been unlawful and based on a misunderstanding about the scope of the search powers.