Why didn't Australians prevent this:
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Australia implemented a firearm ban and mandatory confiscation in 1996 pursuant to the National Firearms Agreement, in which nearly 700,000 privately-owned firearms were turned in to the government and destroyed. In 2017, NRA-ILA described how the country’s anti-gun officials and activists were nonetheless continuing to demand even stricter gun controls: “For those interested in restricting freedom, there’s always one more step that must be taken.”
True to predictions, the State of Western Australia (WA) has since adopted what the state government calls “Australia’s toughest firearms laws,” the Firearms Act Reforms 2024 and regulations, which take effect at the end of March. In the meantime, the government has been running a gun “buyback” scheme since February 2024 for gun owners who will have to give up their guns under the new law, with a budget of A$64.3million. As of January 2025, the government reported that approximately 52,000 firearms had been surrendered to police and removed, the “biggest reduction of firearms anywhere in the nation since 1997 when then Prime Minister John Howard introduced the National Firearms Agreement and buyback scheme.”
At the time the laws were proposed, WA’s government called the changes historic firearm reforms that would enhance community safety but, more to the point, laws that would “reduce unnecessary firearm ownership.” “Unnecessary,” obviously, is a subjective concept.
The latest laws include new license categories, prohibitions and disqualifications, restrictions on the number of guns an individual may own, mandatory health evaluations, mandatory training, and strict new storage requirements.
www.nraila.org
Support NRA-ILA
Australia implemented a firearm ban and mandatory confiscation in 1996 pursuant to the National Firearms Agreement, in which nearly 700,000 privately-owned firearms were turned in to the government and destroyed. In 2017, NRA-ILA described how the country’s anti-gun officials and activists were nonetheless continuing to demand even stricter gun controls: “For those interested in restricting freedom, there’s always one more step that must be taken.”
True to predictions, the State of Western Australia (WA) has since adopted what the state government calls “Australia’s toughest firearms laws,” the Firearms Act Reforms 2024 and regulations, which take effect at the end of March. In the meantime, the government has been running a gun “buyback” scheme since February 2024 for gun owners who will have to give up their guns under the new law, with a budget of A$64.3million. As of January 2025, the government reported that approximately 52,000 firearms had been surrendered to police and removed, the “biggest reduction of firearms anywhere in the nation since 1997 when then Prime Minister John Howard introduced the National Firearms Agreement and buyback scheme.”
At the time the laws were proposed, WA’s government called the changes historic firearm reforms that would enhance community safety but, more to the point, laws that would “reduce unnecessary firearm ownership.” “Unnecessary,” obviously, is a subjective concept.
The latest laws include new license categories, prohibitions and disqualifications, restrictions on the number of guns an individual may own, mandatory health evaluations, mandatory training, and strict new storage requirements.
NRA-ILA | Just One More Step: Australia’s New Weapon Laws
Australia implemented a firearm ban and mandatory confiscation in 1996 pursuant to the National Firearms Agreement, in which nearly 700,000 privately-owned firearms were turned in to the government and destroyed.
www.nraila.org
