Rocket launcher among 57,000 illegal firearms handed in during Australian gun and weapon amnesty

Nation's tough national gun laws held up as example US could follow

Police collected 57,324 firearms, including almost 2,500 semi-automatic and fully-automatic guns (EPA/DARREN ENGLAND)

More than 57,000 illegal firearms, including a rocket launcher and First and Second World War machine guns, were handed in during a recent Australian gun amnesty.

In the three months to September, gun owners could surrender their weapons without penalty. Police collected 57,324 firearms, including almost 2,500 semi-automatic and fully-automatic guns.

Australia’s tough national gun laws and weapons amnesties are often held as an example the US could follow to counter its exceptionally high number of mass shootings.

Most recently, a 19-year-old gunman killed 17 students and teachers at a high school in Florida.


 Nearly a third of the weapons were destroyed 
 (EPA/DARREN ENGLAND)

Authorities in Australia were surprised by the sheer number of weapons surrendered in the first nationwide amnesty since 1996, when a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania state, which led the public to call for tough national gun controls.

A virtual ban on private ownership of semi-automatic rifles and a government-funded gun buyback cut the size of Australia’s civilian arsenal by almost a third.

Nearly a third of the weapons were destroyed, while the remainder were either registered and handed back or given to licensed dealers for resale.

One key to the success of several state-based amnesties since the 1996 massacre were the licensed gun dealers who agreed to act as collection points.

In previous amnesties, the guns have had to be surrendered at police stations.

The amnesty report said a rocket launcher had been handed into a gun dealer rather than police. The dealer said he understood it had been found in a local garbage dump in Queensland state.

A German Spandau MG08 heavy machine gun used during the First World War was handed in, as were a a Buffalo Arms M1919A4 Browning machine gun and a Sten gun, both of which were employed by British Commonwealth forces during the Second World War.

Most illegal guns in Australia are considered to be in the grey market, meaning they were not registered or surrendered as they should have been, but are not considered black market guns owned for the purpose of crime.

The danger of those markets merging became obvious in 2014, when a man who professed support for Isis took hostages in a Sydney cafe armed with a grey-market shotgun.

The gunman and two hostages were killed in a shootout with police.

An inquiry into the siege recommended the government tackle the problem of illegal guns in the community.