Politics

Let’s talk: Will a new guns amnesty fix our illegal weapons problem?

Jun 16, 2017

Almost 700,000 weapons got handed in during John Howard's 1996 guns amnesty.

Australia’s about to launch its first national gun amnesty since the Port Arthur massacre, but some fear that it won’t be enough to deal with the flood of illegal weapons that have come into Australia since the 1996 tragedy.

Justice Minister Michael Keenan is today expected to announce the details of a three-month amnesty that will run from July 1. Keenan told the ABC that the five terror attacks that have been committed in Australia mostly involved illegal firearms; Lindt Cafe killer Haron Man Monis used an unregistered shotgun in the Sydney siege.

“Clearly that makes this top of mind and why we want to make sure we clear as many illegal firearms from the community as possible,” he told the national broadcaster, ahead of announcing further details of the amnesty today.

Former prime minister John Howard has been praised for his swift reaction to the Port Arthur massacre, in which Martin Bryant used semi-automatic weapons to kill 35 people at the historic Tasmanian site. Howard quickly banned the importation and sale of autmatic and semi-automatic weapons in Australia and opened an amnesty in which the government bought back weapons that the public handed in, with a increase in the Medicare levy to pay for the buyback.

The states also introduced more consistent laws on weapons licensing and storage. Almost 700,000 guns were handed in during the 1996 amnesty, and now every gun owner in Australia is required by law to register their weapons.

The Courier Mail reported, however, that there’s an estimated 260,000 illegal firearms currently circulating in Australia, with the ‘darknet’ and efficient global freight systems making it increasingly easy for Australians to buy guns in the US and import them into Australia. An illegal weapon, for example, was used by career criminal Rick Maddison to kill policeman Brett Forte last month.

Keenan has argued that state amnesties, such as one conducted in Queensland, had provided to be successful in continuing to keep illegal weapons off the streets after the 1996 amnesty.

But on radio this morning, commentators questioned whether the lack of a buyback offer in this amnesty would hamper its effectiveness, and whether people who owned guns for criminal purposes would be convinced to hand in their weapons.

And last September, when America’s powerful National Rifle Association criticised Howard’s gun buyback, David Brown, the vice president of the Shooters Union Queensland, told the ABC that the government would be better off investing resources in tackling the issues that fuelled demand for illegal firearms, such as organised gangs and mental health issues.

“There should be less focus on red tape for law-abiding firearm owners and more focus on crime gangs, drugs and giving help to people with mental illness rather than picking on farmers,” Brown was reported as saying at the time. “People can commit murder no matter what weapon they use.”