Turns Out Australians Have Been Hoarding A LOT Of Unregistered Guns
A cool 26,000 have been handed in to police since July 1.
So, it turns out Australians have been quietly hoarding quite a few unregistered firearms!
How many? Well, since the National Firearms Amnesty started in July, 26,000 have been handed in. That’s 460 a day, if you like your terrifying firearm stats in manageable, easy-to-digest chunks.
The good news, of course, is that these big numbers are the guns that have been handed in. The Firearms Amnesty (which runs until September 30) allows people to drop their illegal guns off at a police station or other safe drop-off point, no questions asked.
It’s the first time one of these has been run since 1996, when the government tightened Australia’s gun laws after the Port Arthur Massacre, and it’s proven to be pretty effective. Given that being caught with an illegal firearm would usually carry some pretty hefty consequences (fines of up to $280,000 and up to 14 years behind bars), people have been quite literally rushing to ditch their weapons caches.
Minister for Justice, Michael Keenan, described the number of firearms handed in so far as a “great result”, and is encouraging people to continue bringing them in before September 30. He also told the ABC this morning he was surprised by the number of guns handed in so far, though a spokesperson for Keenan clarified to Junkee that the Minister didn’t actually know what to expect in the first place.
And y’know, even on the legal gun front you might also be surprised at how many firearms are kicking around this country. While Australia’s known for its pretty strict gun laws, there are still plenty of people have perfectly legal firearms at their place, even in the inner city. Plug your postcode into this aptly-titled map (Too Many Guns) by NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge if you want to have a gander.
Anyway, as mildly terrifying as the number of illegal guns in this country is, the good news is that the Amnesty is still going, so that number is dropping by the day. If you happen to know someone with questionable weapons, let them know to check it out before it’s too late…