Australia’s Gun Amnesty

Almost 18,000 firearms and weapons
have been surrendered during the first year (2022)
of a permanent national amnesty.

A Vietnam-era flamethrower, automatic firearms
and a crossbow were among the 18,000 armaments handed in.

Australia has some of the toughest gun laws anywhere in the world. That is largely due to the response to the Port Arthur massacre (1996), in which 35 people were murdered and 23 were injured.

The tragedy led to restrictions on the sale of automatic and semi-automatic weapons across the country, as well as a temporary buyback and amnesty scheme which resulted in the surrender of almost 650,000 firearms.

Perhaps on going through the property of a deceased family member, they find that there’s a gun tucked away in the cupboard or in the attic, and they don’t want to have that gun.