History of Australia's gun laws

Australian Community Media

Before the Port Arthur Massacre in April 1996, Australia's states and territories did not have uniformed gun laws. After the massacre, the Howard government pushed to change that. But some of the recommended reforms are still yet to be enacted.

Transcript

00:00 A siege is underway in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur, where at least 25 people have

00:04 been shot dead in Australia's worst massacre.

00:07 Australia's gun laws changed forever after 29-year-old Martin Bryant opened fire at the

00:13 Port Arthur site in Tasmania in April 1996.

00:17 35 people were killed and another 23 were wounded.

00:23 Before that day, there were no uniformed gun ownership laws in Australia's states and territories,

00:28 and at the time, Tasmania's gun laws were considered the weakest in the country, which

00:33 allowed the 1996 tragedy to unfold as it did.

00:38 After that day, then Prime Minister John Howard began a campaign to increase Australia's gun

00:43 control measures.

00:44 It was not a popular campaign at the time.

00:53 Within four months, the National Firearms Agreement was introduced.

00:58 Under the provisions, some firearms would be banned entirely, while a mandatory 28-day

01:03 cooling-off period would be enforced after every gun sale.

01:09 The agreement also set up a buyback scheme, during which more than 650,000 firearms were

01:16 surrendered or destroyed.

01:18 In the three decades since the Port Arthur massacre, there have been 28 gun amnesties

01:23 encouraging Australians to surrender illegal or unregistered firearms without prosecution.

01:30 In 2021, the Australian government set up a permanent gun amnesty, allowing citizens

01:34 to surrender their guns without fear of prosecution.

01:38 But the firearms agreement in 1996 also recommended setting up a national firearms register in

01:44 Australia.

01:46 That is yet to be formally introduced, though the Labor government under Anthony Albanese

01:50 hopes it will be operational by 2027.

02:14 Under the proposal, there will be eight separate gun registers set up in Australia's states

02:19 and territories.

02:20 These registers will form a national database with names and uses for all of Australia's

02:25 registered guns that can be accessed by police in real time.

02:30 It's hoped these measures will address the significant gaps and inconsistencies that

02:34 still exist in Australia's firearms laws, now 30 years after the Port Arthur massacre.

02:40 [Music]

02:42 (gentle music)

02:44 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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