Firearm registry data reveals Sydney suburbs with most guns
Residents in some of Sydney’s most exclusive postcodes have stockpiled hundreds of guns, new data has revealed with a homeowner on the north shore registering a stunning 359 firearms. SEE HOW MANY GUNS ARE IN YOUR SUBURB.
NSW
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Homeowners in Sydney's ritziest suburbs have stockpiled hundreds of guns in the last six months alone because they are increasingly worried about self protection.
The latest NSW Firearms registry data reveals that residents in the eastern suburbs postcode of 2030 which takes in suburbs including Dover Heights and Vaucluse bought up more than 100 guns in the last six months to March this year.
Beachside suburbs including Coogee and South Coogee collectively added more than 50 guns over the same period, bringing their suburbs' stockpile to 349 while Bellevue Hill added almost 50 new firearms to give its residents a total of 465 guns.
The biggest single hoard of firearms was in the affluent north shore postcode 2090 which takes in Cremorne and Cremorne Point, where one person increased their arsenal from 314 guns six months ago to 359.
Social demographer Simon Kuestenmacher said rich people were buying up guns because they were trying to bolster their personal security.
“If you feel less secure, if you are feeling more angsty, you are looking for more security,” he said.
“If I live in a very rich suburb and I am seeing COVID-19 happening, high unemployment rates, I am seeing little sparks of social unrest.”
“These are not hunters, these are not sport shooters, this is a security measure.
“This would be in particularly the case for the richest of the rich … but it is a fear driven thing, it is not fact driven, crime rates in Australia haven’t gone up.”
The rural postcode of 2340 which includes the rural centres of Tamworth and Nundle had 15,548 guns — the highest number of registered firearms in the state.
It was followed by the postcode of 2795 which includes the inland city of Bathurst with 14,641 guns.
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Some suburban postcodes like 2756 in Sydney’s northwest, which takes in the family-orientated suburb of Bligh Park, surprisingly had 7405 firearms.
In the city’s southwest the postcode of 2170 which takes in Casula and Liverpool have a whopping 5352 firearms.
Postcode 2745, which includes Glenmore Park, has 3816 guns while postcode 2747, which includes suburbs like Cambridge Gardens, has a total of 3520 guns.
In NSW, a person applying for a gun license must have successfully completed a firearms training and safety course relevant to the type of gun for which they are applying and be a “fit and proper person”.