Australia to implement comprehensive national gun registry

Thirty years after it was first proposed a national gun registry will finally become a reality after the premeditated murders of two police officers exposed weaknesses in the current system.

Australia will finally get a comprehensive national firearms registry more than 30 years after it was first proposed.

National cabinet on Friday tasked state and federal attorneys-general to report by the end of June on how a national registry can be implemented.

The move came as ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess briefed leaders on the rise of the so-called sovereign citizen movement, the far right ideology believed to have motivated the three Wieambilla killers who in December executed two police officers and shot and killed a neighbour.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a National Firearms Register was “common sense” that will support police and law enforcement and protect people’s safety.

A new firearms registry will be able to track guns across borders.

“The tragedy surrounding the premeditated murder of Queensland police officers Constable Rachel McCrow and Constable Matthew Arnold has exposed weaknesses in the sharing of information which must be acted upon,” he said.

“This reform will save lives.”

The new registry will operate in near real-time and contain the details of all licence holders and the guns they hold.

It will also provide a single firearm record, including technical details, identity and history of every gun. It will not only be interoperable between jurisdictions but also keep track of them when they cross borders.

A national firearms registry has been debated since 1990 when the National Committee on Violence proposed it in the wake of the 1987 Queen and Hoddle St mass shootings in Melbourne, which between them claimed the lives of 16.

The murders of police officers Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold exposed weaknesses in current gun laws. Picture: QPS / via NCA Newswire

Nothing was done about it however until the establishment of the 1996 National Firearms Agreement in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, in which 35 people died.

Law enforcement currently has access to the Australian Firearms Information Network and the National Firearms Identification Database, which have been criticised for their inadequacies.

The latest push for a comprehensive gun registry to be updated in real time across state borders was led in national cabinet on Friday by Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk.

Speaking as she arrived at Parliament House for national cabinet, Ms Palaszczuk said the Wiembilla killings had motivated the push for change.

“I’ll be raising it at national cabinet especially after the tragic deaths of Matthew and Rachel that were felt right across Australia,” she said.

Earlier this week the President of the AFP’s police association called for any new firearms registry to be paid for by a tariff on imported guns and the confiscated proceeds of crime.

Originally published as Australia to implement comprehensive national gun registry