CANBERRA, Nov 21: Gun owners will be able to hand in their weapons after Australian states agreed to launch a continuous national gun amnesty from 2020, according to the local media.
State and federal police and emergency services ministers met in South Australia on Wednesday where they agreed to the first continuous amnesty in Australian history.
The amnesty period gives Australians the opportunity to legally dispose of any unwanted or unregistered firearms.
More than 57,000 weapons including automatic rifles and a rocket launcher were handed over during a three-month national amnesty in 2017.
That was the first national amnesty since the 1996 amnesty and buyback scheme, which took place immediately after the Port Arthur Massacre in which 35 people were killed by a lone gunman.
“It’s very important to keep firearms out of the family home if they’re not used anymore, and to keep them out of the hands of criminals,” Jason Wood, the federal assistant minister for community safety, told News Corp Australia.
The amnesty is expected to begin in the second half of 2020 with further details still to be confirmed.
Wood said that both the firearms industry and anti-gun lobby have been supportive of the initiative.
South Australia has had its own continuous amnesty in place since October 2017, during which time more than 5,000 firearms have been turned in.
(agencies)
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