Authorities may soon be able to access details of firearm possessions across Australia after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed the creation of a national database is on the cards.
Australia currently registers firearms on a state-by-state basis, but the shooting of two police officers in Queensland last December prompted political leaders to push for nationwide expansion. became.
On January 3, Prime Minister Albanese said more needs to be done between jurisdictions after a national ministerial meeting between the country’s prime ministers and prime ministers.
“This is part of the problem identified in Queensland and we have agreed to report through the Attorney General’s Council of Ministers by the middle of this year on the option of implementing a National Firearms Registry. This is a necessary step.” told reporters after the meeting.
Albanese also revealed that Australian leaders had invited Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) Executive Director Mike Burgess to speak about the rise of right-wing extremism.
“Especially so-called sovereign citizens, and other issues as well, and we had high-level national security briefings on that for the prime minister and the prime minister.”
Western Australia’s Prime Minister Mark McGowan backed the move, saying it “must happen”.
“We need to reduce the number of guns in our communities, and we need to make it easier to track and trace guns across communities…it’s a no-brainer,” he told reporters in Canberra.
Call for national registration after the deadly siege
Shortly after the fatal siege in Wiang Villa, Queensland, demands for national registration began. The incident claimed six of his lives, including two police officers, an innocent bystander, and three of his shooters.
Police found “considerable weapons”, including unregistered rifles and shotguns, in the possession of the three assailants.
“Weapons – it’s not in the right hands. But we have to look at the licensing system and the national database, can we improve?” said Ian Reavers, head of the Queensland Police Union. , said:
“Wouldn’t it be better if people moved from state to state? We need uniformity across the board,” he said on the Today show Dec. 14.
Australia first introduced strict gun laws in 1996 after Martin Bryant killed 35 people with two semi-automatics at the tourist resort of Port Arthur, Tasmania.
In response, the federal government rolled out a gun buyback program (funded with extra tax revenue). This has reduced gun ownership by 48% since 1997. There are currently 3.5 million guns owned by Australians.
“In the same year, there was also a big shift in gun culture in the country,” said Associate Professor Philip Alpers, an expert in firearms injury prevention. University of Sydney.
States and territories now operate separate licensing systems that limit gun ownership to activities such as agriculture, pest control, recreational hunting, sports, animal welfare, and certain businesses.
The University of Sydney estimates that in 2021 there are now 3.5 million registered firearms in the country (population of over 25 million) with 868,000 owners.
The university also estimates that 260,000 illegal firearms are on the “grey market” or undeclared. However, there are reports that the number could be as high as 600,000, which means he has a population of 26 million, and 43 of her Australian girlfriends have access to illegal firearms. suggesting that it is possible.
According to the Permanent National Firearms Amnesty, between 1 July 2021 and 30 June 2022, Australians submitted 17,543 firearms and 606 parts (including suppressors and magazines). annual report It was released by the Attorney General’s Department on January 20.
The National Firearms Amnesty Program was approved by the then-Union Government in 2019. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the program has been postponed until July 2021.