The sale, possession, and use of firearms are regulated by the Australian states and territories, with cross-border trade matters addressed at the federal level. In 1996, following the Port Arthur massacre, the federal government and the states and territories agreed to a uniform approach to firearms regulation, including a ban on certain semiautomatic and self-loading rifles and shotguns, standard licensing and permit criteria, storage requirements and inspections, and greater restrictions on the sale of firearms and ammunition. Firearms license applicants would be required to take a safety course and show a “genuine reason” for owning a firearm, which could not include self-defense. The reasons for refusing a license would include “reliable evidence of a mental or physical condition which would render the applicant unsuitable for owning, possessing or using a firearm.” A waiting period of twenty-eight days would apply to the issuing of both firearms licenses and permits to acquire each weapon.
Alongside legislative reforms to implement the National Firearms Agreement, a national buyback program for prohibited weapons took place in 1996-1997 and resulted in more than 700,000 weapons being surrendered. Further reforms were later implemented as a result of agreements made in 2002 on firearms trafficking and handguns, as was a national buyback of newly prohibited handguns and associated parts.
A large amount of information and analysis is available regarding the number of firearms in Australia and their use in crimes or incidents resulting in death. The most recent relevant report of the Australian Institute of Criminology states that the “number of victims of firearm-perpetrated homicide (i.e. murder and manslaughter) has declined by half between 1989–90 and 2009–10 from 24 to 12 percent.” Recent reports have also examined the number of illicit firearms and firearm thefts in Australia. Among the activities relating to gun control that took place in 2012 was the signing of a new intergovernmental agreement to tackle illicit firearms and firearms trafficking.
On April 28, 1996, a twenty-eight-year-old gunman armed with a semiautomatic rifle shot and killed thirty-five people and wounded eighteen others at several locations in and around Port Arthur, a popular tourist area in Tasmania, Australia. The gunman survived and pleaded guilty to multiple homicides.[1] He received thirty-five life sentences without the possibility of parole.[2]
Prior to this incident, gun laws in Australia could be seen as relatively lenient, and there were large variations in the regulations across the six states and two mainland territories.[3] Firearms regulation is the responsibility of individual Australian states and territories, as section 51 of the Australian Constitution does not confer lawmaking powers in relation to firearms on the federal Parliament.[4] Federal laws can be enacted regarding the import of firearms and other weapons under the overseas trade and commerce powers of the federal Parliament.[5] The Australian Constitution does not contain any explicit gun ownership rights.
In response to the Port Arthur massacre, the Australasian Police Ministers’ Council (APMC) convened a special meeting on May 10, 1996, and agreed to a national plan for the regulation of firearms promoted by then Prime Minister John Howard.[6] The resolutions made at that meeting subsequently became the Nationwide Agreement on Firearms (commonly referred to as the National Firearms Agreement).[7] The proposals emerged from earlier recommendations of the National Committee on Violence, which was established in 1988 following two mass killings in Melbourne involving high-powered rifles.[8] The APMC had previously considered the need for a uniform approach to firearms regulation at meetings held between 1988 and 1995,[9] and some state and federal laws had been changed during this period in response to shooting incidents.[10]
The 1996 National Firearms Agreement led to the considerable revision of the laws of the states and territories[11] and the implementation of a national buyback program to encourage firearms owners and dealers to surrender prohibited weapons.
After 1996 there were further shooting incidents, which led to additional action by Australian federal and state governments, including the National Handgun Agreement (2002), National Handgun Buyback Act 2003 (Cth), and National Firearms Trafficking Policy Agreement (2002).[12]
The restrictions and licensing requirements relating to the purchase, possession, and use of firearms (including imitation firearms) in Australia are currently controlled by the following state and territory instruments:
A full list of current legal instruments for each state and territory are provided in an appendix to this report.
At the federal level, the importation of firearms is subject to the restrictions in Regulation 4F and Schedule 6 of the Customs (Prohibited Goods) Regulations 1956 (Cth).[21]
The resolutions agreed to at the APMC meeting on May 10, 1996,[22] provided for the establishment of a uniform approach to firearms regulation that would include
The above resolutions were implemented through the passage of new or amending legislation and associated regulations by the states and territories.[37] A review of the relevant legislation by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) in 2008 found general compliance with the 1996 National Firearms Agreement (and the 2002 agreements regarding handguns and firearms trafficking discussed below) across the states and territories but also determined that there remained some inconsistencies between the jurisdictions.[38] Some amendments to the relevant laws were subsequently made in response to the AIC review.
In addition to requiring law changes to implement the above resolutions, the agreement provided for the establishment of a twelve-month national amnesty and compensation program, to be accompanied by a public education campaign, after which the jurisdictions would apply “severe penalties” for breaches of the firearms control laws.[39] This resolution was implemented through a national firearms buyback program, which saw the federal Parliament enacting the National Firearms Program Implementation Act 1996 (Cth).[40] The Medicare Levy Amendment Act 1996 (Cth) was also enacted in relation to providing funding for the compensation to be paid to gun owners who handed in weapons that fell within the prohibited categories.[41]
The buyback program started in most states on October 1, 1996, and ended on September 30, 1997. More than 640,000 prohibited firearms were surrendered nationwide as part of the buyback program.[42] In addition, it was reported that about 60,000 nonprohibited firearms were voluntarily surrendered without compensation.[43] According to a telephone poll conducted in 1999 on behalf of the federal government by Gun Control Australia, there were about 3.25 million guns in Australia prior to the 1996–1997 buyback program.[44] One study on the impact of the buyback states that “[i]n terms of the absolute numbers of guns destroyed, Australia’s gun buyback ranks as the largest destruction of civilian firearms in any country over the period 1991–2006.”[45] The buyback was reported to have resulted in the withdrawal of one-fifth of the stock of civilian firearms in the country and substantially reduced the number of households possessing a firearm.[46]
In July 2002, the APMC agreed to several resolutions aimed at controlling the illegal trade in firearms in Australia. The National Firearm Trafficking Policy Agreement called for
In addition to subsequent changes to state and territory legislation in response to the resolutions, an amendment to the federal Criminal Code Act 1995 was enacted to make it a criminal offense, “in the course of trade and commerce between any states and territories, to illegally dispose of or acquire a firearm, or to take or send a firearm from one state or territory to another, intending that the firearm will be disposed of illegally.” [48]
Later in 2002, on October 21, two people were killed and five injured as a result of a shooting incident in a classroom at Monash University in Melbourne, Victoria. The gunman, who had been armed with several loaded handguns, was a licensed pistol owner and member of the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia. He was later found not guilty of the murders on the grounds of mental impairment and sentenced to spend twenty-five years in a psychiatric hospital.[49] The incident led to renewed debate about gun control laws, particularly in relation to handguns.[50]
At a meeting of the APMC in November 2002, various resolutions were agreed to, which included restricting the classes of legal handguns that can be imported or possessed for sporting purposes, changing licensing requirements for handguns, and exploring options for a buyback program for those guns deemed illegal.[51] The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) endorsed the resolutions in December 2002, and these formed the National Handgun Control Agreement.[52]
The agreed restrictions were implemented through state and territory amendment legislation[53] and through changes to the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 (Cth).[54] The latter instrument was amended to prevent the importation of prohibited handguns and handgun parts with the following features by sporting shooters, or their direct sale by firearms dealers/importers to sporting shooters:
The federal Parliament also enacted the National Handgun Buyback Act 2003, which provided for financial assistance to be granted to states in connection with the implementation of a buyback program for handguns that did not comply with the new restrictions.[56] The buyback program, which was implemented by the individual states and territories, resulted in about 70,000 handguns and more than 278,000 parts and accessories being surrendered.[57]
There have been multiple studies and reports over the years that provide statistics and analysis regarding various aspects of gun ownership and violence in Australia, including in relation to the impact of the 1996 reforms and buyback program. The references below to both government and academic reports or studies are not intended to be exhaustive.
Government Information
In 1997, following an agreement at the July 1996 APMC meeting, the AIC established a national firearms monitoring program, which includes tracking and analyzing firearm theft information.[58] The AIC also monitors homicide rates and other violent crimes,[59] including the weapons associated with these.[60] The Australian Crime Commission (ACC) provides reports and analysis on aspects of nationally significant crime, and in February 2012 it was asked to undertake an intelligence assessment of the illegal firearms market.[61] Findings of some of the reports of these government entities include the following:
Firearm Numbers
Firearm Deaths
[i]n 1991 there were 629 firearm related deaths in Australia compared to 333 in 2001. This represents a 47 per cent decrease in firearms deaths between 1991 and 2001. The incidence of both firearms suicides and firearms homicides almost halved over the 11 year period. While the number of firearms homicides has continued to decline, with 2001 recording the lowest number of firearms homicides during this period (n=47), the number of firearms suicides declined consistently from 1991 to 1998, but has since fluctuated. The number of firearm related accidents also fluctuated over the same period, from 29 firearms accidents in 1991 to 18 in 2001, but ranging between 15 and 45 over this time. While the numbers are quite small, the year 2000 recorded the highest number of firearms accidents (45 accidents) during the 11 year period.[72]
[d]uring the early to mid-1990s, handguns accounted for less than 20 percent of all firearm homicides, but over the following 10 years this percentage increased to around 50 percent. This increase immediately followed the National Firearms Agreement in 1996, and it has been proposed that restrictions in the availability and access to certain firearms, and who can own a firearm, led to greater use of illegitimate means to acquire firearms, particularly those that are easily concealed such as handguns.[74]
[i]n Australia, the number of victims of firearm-perpetrated homicide (ie murder and manslaughter) has declined by half between 1989–90 and 2009–10 from 24 to 12 percent. (Chan & Payne forthcoming). The predominance of handgun-perpetrated homicide, as a proportion of all firearm homicide, rose from 17 to 45 percent between 1992–93 and 2006–07 (Bricknell 2008b; Dearden & Jones 2008) but dropped again in the following three years to a little over 10 percent. For the most recent year available (2009–10), handgun homicide comprised 13 percent of all homicides that were committed with a firearm (Chan & Payne forthcoming).[78]
Nongovernment Studies
A range of Australian firearms statistics can also be found on the website of GunPolicy.org, a nonprofit entity hosted by the Sydney School of Public Health at The University of Sydney.[79] In January 2013, the author of that website, Associate Professor Philip Alpers, published figures relating to the impact of multiple gun buybacks and amnesties on the number of guns in Australia.[80] His research found that, due to an increasing number of guns being imported into Australia, “Australians own as many guns now as they did at the time of the Port Arthur massacre, despite more than 1 million firearms being handed in and destroyed.”[81] Alpers said th