Act now on national gun register

The execution-style killings of constables Rachel McCrow, 29, and Matthew Arnold, 26, and neighbour Alan Dare, 58, on a remote Queensland property at Wieambilla, 290km northwest of Brisbane, last week was a textbook example of why a national register of ­licensed firearm owners should be compiled without delay. Following the incident, momentum for a register is building, including from traditional opponents of gun reform. On Monday, Nationals leader David Littleproud, whose Maranoa electorate takes in the shooting site, backed Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers’ call for a national register as “eminently sensible’’ to equip police with information that “potentially could save lives’’. If officers knew what they were walking into, they would be better equipped and prepared, he said.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll backed Mr Leavers’ call on Sunday, as did all state police spokesmen questioned by The Australian on Monday. Mr Leavers and the Australian Federal Police Association called for a national register after it emerged that one of last week’s cop killers, Nathaniel Train, had a NSW gun licence, which may not have been known to the officers before they embarked on a routine missing person check.

After lone gunman Martin Bryant slaughtered 35 people during the Port Arthur massacre in April 1996, John Howard’s strength of leadership saw a National Firearms Agreement struck and a buyback and amnesty initiated. More than 700,000 firearms were surrendered and destroyed. Ongoing vigilance remains vital. In 2017, a fresh amnesty resulted in another 25,000 weapons being handed in. The original 1996 agreement also recommended a nationwide register of all firearms, easily accessible to all law enforcement agencies. It has not been established and would need co-operation by states and territories. Until it is set up, police safety is being compromised by the lack of a resource to allow officers to quickly check if a person being visited or sought has an interstate gun licence.

Now is the time for action. First, it would be a worthwhile, lasting reform to follow last week’s tragedy. Second, as ASIO director-general Mike Burgess warned in 2020 and 2021, “ideologically motivated violent extremists’’ with a “cocktail … of views, fears, frustrations and conspiracies” pose serious dangers, encouraged by online sites. Many such people, Mr Burgess said, were “ well-educated, articulate and middle-class – and not easily identified”. Gareth Train, another of last week’s killers, had been prolific online, espousing bizarre conspiracy theories, including the ludicrous claim that the Port Arthur massacre was a ploy to disarm the population. Just hours after the Wieambilla shooting, he and his wife posted an online message boasting they had killed “these devils and demons”.