Military-style guns finally outlawed

TWO Tasmanian- produced military-style firearms have been banned — 25 years after the company behind them was forced to close.

The semi-automatic pistol and semi-automatic rifle made by former Kempton gun maker Australian Automatic Arms (AAA) were outlawed by Tasmania Police last month.

The two guns were banned because of their military-style appearance.

In a crackdown on firearms that mirror the appearance of machine guns, police have also banned two other rifles — the Warwick Firearms A1 and the Smith and Wesson M&P 15-22.

Long-time gun control advocate Roland Browne praised the decision to have the AAA weapons prohibited, saying it “could only enhance public safety”.

“The move to rid society of weapons that look military is a really good thing,” he said. “We don’t need guns like that, there’s no sporting or targetshooting purpose for them.”

In the days after the Port Arthur massacre, an AAA rifle was found in the perpetrator’s house. It was not used in the shooting.

Mr Brown said the AAA firearms were the legacy of the then-Liberal government that helped to establish the weapons factory in the mid-1980s.

“It’s a good day and a fitting end to those guns ... that they are now going to be totally prohibited in Tasmania,” he said.

The brainchild of Don Jones, a former champion shooter and businessman, AAA was set up with a $30,000 grant from the Tasmanian government in 1985.

The Kempton factory produced a number of semi-automatic weapons sold locally and overseas.

A keen supporter of the business, then-premier Robin Gray posed with one of AAA’s firearms for the media, claiming it would spearhead a $6 million-a-year gun industry in Tasmania.

A spate of mass shootings across Australia in the years following saw a tightening of gun laws, and in 1992 the federal government paid AAA $2 million to close down in a bid to stop the proliferation of semi-automatics weapons.

Despite this, until last month the AAA firearms could be registered in Tasmania.

Police said four firearms have been surrendered since the ban.