Brendan Smith, 35, of Ashmont originally pleaded guilty in Wagga Local Court on February 8 to affray, firearms and assault charges resulting from an alleged incident on Truscott Drive at 8.21pm on January 26.

Police claimed that Mr Smith approached another man in the street while carrying an Adler single-barrel 12-gauge shotgun.

"A gentleman in his car with his wife and their two infant children saw a man walk down the middle of Truscott Drive with a shotgun in his left hand and used his right hand to swing a hook at another man," Magistrate Christopher Halburd said, reading from the police allegations in January.

"The victim responded, and the defendant has taken the worst of it. Another person has taken the shotgun and thrown it onto the footpath, made it safe and when they removed the magazine they found four live shotgun shells inside."

Mr Smith appeared before Wagga Local Court again on Wednesday in an attempt to change some of his pleas, alleging that he was not fully instructed by his solicitor, Paul Joseph Keane, as to the extent of what he was admitting to and to possible defences he could use.

Mr Smith's new solicitor, Suzanne Martinez, told the court that her client was applying for a guilty plea transversal for one charge each of possessing a loaded firearm in a public place, affray and common assault.

During the same prior court hearing, Mr Smith also pleaded not guilty to carrying a firearm in a manner likely to injure a person, driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol as a first offence and driving a motor vehicle during a disqualification period as a first offence.

He pleaded guilty to not keeping firearm safely of the type not a pistol or prohibited firearm.

Ms Martinez said her client had difficulties with reading comprehension due to dyslexia and his ability to engage with Mr Keane could have been affected by his possible diagnosis of autism.

"There was a lot of background noise in Junee Correctional Centre when they spoke," Ms Martinez said.

Mr Smith, appearing as a witness via video link, agreed with his solicitor that he was "not well legally versed" and had only appeared in court for one prior matter.

Mr Smith said he felt "rushed" while speaking to Mr Keane for legal advice for a period he estimated at 30 minutes.

"He didn't ask a lot of questions," Mr Smith said.

Mr Smith said he now believed he could invoke self defence and claimed he had been attacked while sitting in his vehicle and attempted to keep control of his firearm, which had ammunition in its magazine but not in the chamber.

"I couldn't let other people take my shotgun as it's registered to me and I'm responsible for it," he said.

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Under cross-examination by the police prosecutor, Mr Smith admitted he had "possibly not the best" recollection of the conversation with Mr Keane but they did talk in detail about whether his firearm was capable of being fired if somebody pulled the trigger during the incident.

Mr Keane also appeared as a witness and told the court under questioning from Ms Martinez that he discussed with Mr Smith his "lawful excuse" for having the shotgun in his car.

"He had the shotgun in his car because he had originally planned to go out shooting but had decided to drink alcohol instead," Mr Keane said.

Mr Keane said he went through the meaning of the affray charge with Mr Smith but did not discuss the potential to defend the other charges.

Under cross-examination by the police prosecutor, Mr Keane said it was a "busy day" at Wagga Court House when he spoke to Mr Smith but they agreed to plead guilty to some charges while disputing the police statement of facts.

"I wasn't given a lot of time," Mr Keane said.

Magistrate Halburd said he would reach a decision on the application to change pleas at a later date and adjourned the matter until July 26.

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