Australian Border Force seize more than 4000 guns amid calls for new gun ownership ban

Police have stopped more than 4000 lethal guns hitting Australian streets as pressure mounts on the government to consider a John Howard-like shake-up of gun laws. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Border cops have stopped 4000 lethal guns, parts and accessories from hitting Australian streets in under three years.

It comes as gun safety advocates call on the states and territories to follow WA and introduce limits on the number of firearms a person can own in response to rising numbers in the community.

Australian Border Force officials detected 2308 undeclared conventional firearms, parts and accessories last year alone.

“In the wrong hands, these weapons could be deadly,” said an ABF spokesperson.

“If we detect them at the border we will seize them and where appropriate prosecute those trying to bring them in illegally.”

The number of guns owned by civilians has soared by 25 per cent since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 to around 4 million, according to the Australia Institute. Picture: AAP /Darren England

The number of guns owned by civilians has soared by 25 per cent since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 to around 4 million, according to the Australia Institute.

Tasmania and the NT have the highest number of weapons per capita.

Australian Gun Safety Alliance convener Stephen Bendle said last year’s spate of knife attacks demonstrated how lucky the nation was to have such robust gun laws.

Mr Bendle, a founding member of the Alannah and Madeline Foundation established in the wake of Port Arthur, said states and territories should follow WA in introducing limits on the number of firearms a person was allowed to own.

“I don’t think we should wait until something bad happens,” he said.

“I think we should just say what’s in the best interest of the community, what’s fair and reasonable.”

WA toughened firearm licensing requirements and introduced caps, with the type of licence deciding the number of guns a person was allowed to own.

The reforms were in part triggered by the killing of Jennifer Petelczyc and her 18-year-old daughter Gretl by Mark James Bombara, the former partner of a friend of Petelczyc.

University of Sydney emeritus professor Simon Chapman, said nothing was as efficient at killing people as an automatic or semiautomatic weapon, which were banned after Port Arthur by the then Howard government.

“When you do hear of these horrific knife or machete attacks, the typical death toll is just a handful,” says Professor Chapman, who played a key role in advocating for reform following the massacre.

“If someone runs amok with a semi automatic high calibre rifle you get dozens of people as we saw in Port Arthur.”

Port Arthur, where Australia's worst massacre took place nearly 10 years ago.

John Howard, instrumental in changing Australia’s gun laws, places a wreath at the steps of Broad Arrow cafe at Port Arthur. Picture: P/R Tasmania

The Port Arthur massacre remains the worst mass shooting committed by a single person in the nation’s history and triggered a surge of community support for gun reform.

Under then prime minister John Howard, the states and territories reached a historic agreement known as the National Firearms Agreement including the banning of automatic and semiautomatic weapons.

The government bought about 600,000 of the now banned guns under a “buyback scheme” that ran over 1996 and 1997.

Lawyer John Avery, who represented Port Arthur mass shooter Martin Bryant, says his former client would have just been a ‘laughable misfit’ without guns.

Lawyer John Avery, who represented Port Arthur mass shooter Martin Bryant, said his former client would have just been a “laughable misfit” without guns.

“I think that’s the most telling thing of this whole massacre, the awfulness of it, but it did result in some real changes to the way Australia deals with guns.

“If you compare it with America, where they still refuse to come to grips with the gun issue in their continent here of course.

“Without a gun this fellow would not have been a menace to anyone. As I said at the start, he was just a laughable misfit.”