‘Band-aid’ gun control

Government amnesty under attack

THE first national gun amnesty since the Port Arthur massacre will aim to keep some of Australia’s 260,000 illegal weapons out of terrorists’ hands, but gun control advocates have labelled it a “bandaid” solution.

Announcing the threemonth amnesty starting from July 1, the Federal Government’s Justice Minister Michael Keenan said recent terror attacks in Australia had been committed with illegal guns.

Mr Keenan said the amnesty was as much a chance for people to get rid of an old heirloom as it was about getting guns off the streets.

“This is an opportunity for people to present the guns to authorities, no questions asked and with no penalty,” Mr Keenan said.

“If people don’t take that opportunity, the penalties for owning an unregistered or illegal gun in Australia are very severe.

“We have seen through terror attacks in Australia that illegal guns have been used.”

Illegal guns were used in the Lindt Cafe siege and the death of police accountant Curtis Cheng in Sydney.

But Tasmanian lawyer and Gun Control Australia vicechairman Roland Browne said the amnesty would just pick up old or unwanted guns.

“Amnesty won’t fix this problem, amnesty is a bandaid,” Mr Browne said.

“By its definition, it will not take the guns away from criminals or would-be terrorists.”

He wants to see better gun storage laws introduced to prevent theft, a ban on semi-automatic handguns and stricter licence requirements.

The Federal Opposition is backing the amnesty.

“We would certainly en- courage people to do the right thing and to hand them in,” Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese told the Nine Network yesterday.

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party Victoria MP Jeff Bourman backed the amnesty, but he doubted that it would reduce the black market in guns.

“It’s not going to solve the crime problem we have at the moment,” he said.

Mr Bourman thought it was more likely people would hand in old weapons “like grandad’s shotgun”.

The national amnesty will be the first since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, which was accompanied by a gun buyback scheme.

The Port Arthur shooting in April of that year resulted in the deaths of 35 people at the tourist site in Tasmania.

Gunman Martin Bryant is serving 35 life sentences for the murders.