Lethal, legal and locally made: Howard joins police push to restrict this gun nationwide

Former prime minister John Howard has joined gun-control advocates and police to sound alarm at inconsistent firearms regulations that risk undermining restrictions on high-powered multi-shot weapons.

Howard, who spearheaded efforts to tighten Australia’s gun laws in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, said the community would be “very angry” if there were any weakening of firearms control.

Recreational shooter with a Wedgetail pump-action rifleCredit: Nine

Gun safety advocates and the Australian Federal Police Association are demanding states urgently align their gun laws, pointing to major inconsistencies in the way some high-powered, rapid-fire weapons were treated by state authorities.

The Wedgetail MPR308, a pump-action rifle, for example, is banned in NSW, Tasmania and the ACT but can be bought by recreational and sporting shooters in every other state and territory.

Gun Control Australia vice president Roland Browne said it was “crazy” that such discrepancies existed between adjacent jurisdictions for such powerful, quick-fire firearms.

“We deplore those guns being in circulation in the general community,” Browne said.

“They can kill or injure many people quickly and we’re seeing governments around Australia allow them to circulate. We have no need for them in a civil society.”

Australian Gun Safety Alliance convenor Stephen Bendle said the military-style Wedgetail MPR308 was the sort of weapon not foreseen when the National Firearms Agreement banned automatic and semi-automatic weapons 28 years ago.

“We’ve got a whole industry making new and high-powered weapons and endeavouring to make them commercially available,” Bendle said.

“All jurisdictions should be consistent in ensuring that these are prohibited, or at the very least available only to a very few highly regulated professional shooters.”

The Wedgetail MPR308 is banned in NSW, ACT and Tasmania but available in other states to those who qualify for recreational gun licenses.

Wedgetail Industries, the manufacturer of the MPR308 rifle, did not respond to repeated inquiries for comment.

Australian Federal Police Association president Alex Caruana said it was an “oversight” not to have banned or heavily restricted pump-action rifles in the same way pump-action shotguns were restricted after the Port Arthur massacre.

Caruana said consistency across jurisdictions was critical in gun control, given it was only as strong as the weakest link. “If you’ve got softer laws in one state, that weakens the laws in the other states,” he said.

Browne echoed this view: “A person in Victoria can purchase a rapid-fire rifle and transport it over the border into NSW where it can’t be purchased. That’s crazy.”

Bendle said inconsistent gun laws put owners at legal peril. “Someone might buy a gun legitimately in one state and travel to other states where it might be unknowingly breaking the law,” he said.

Shown a clip of the Wedgetail MPR308 in action, Howard said, “it looks very lethal to me”. He said Australia’s ban on automatic and semi-automatic weapons was world-leading for the time and “undeniably led to a safer Australia”.

“My general view is that our prohibitions should be tough, they should be comprehensive, they should be nationwide and if we want to maintain the full impact of those reforms that were achieved all those years ago in the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy, then we’ll make sure our laws comply with those three requirements,” Howard said.

“The overwhelming majority of the Australian people would be angry, very angry indeed, if they felt there was any weakening of what was achieved in the wake of Port Arthur.”

John Howard says a ban on automatic and semi-automatic weapons “undeniably led to a safer Australia”.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Caruana said the federal police association wanted ammunition purchases restricted by limiting gun owners to the particular bullets, shells or cartridges used in their licensed weapon.

“If I only owned a .22 long rifle firearm, why should I be able to buy 12-gauge ammunition?” he said, adding this would help prevent “leakage” of ammunition into the black and gray markets.

“Regardless of your category of licence, you should only be able to buy the ammunition for the firearm that you’re licensed to own.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last month convinced premiers and chief ministers to establish a national firearms register, a National Cabinet decision that will finally deliver on a Howard-era ambition three decades after it was first imagined.

But it will take another four years for it to be put in place — a great disappointment to gun-control advocates.

“Why are we waiting four years for a higher level of public safety that was deemed to be urgent after the Wieambilla shootings in December 2022?” asked Browne, referring to the Queensland attack in which six died, including two police officers.

Pump-action rifles such as the Wedgetail MPR308 are not specifically defined in the National Firearms Agreement, and because the rifle is domestically manufactured, it’s the responsibility of each state and territory to classify the firearm.

If it were manufactured overseas, the Commonwealth could restrict its availability through customs regulations. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus was contacted for comment.

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