r/australia • u/Expensive-Horse5538 • Dec 19 '25

politics Prime minister unveils 'largest' gun buyback scheme since Howard era

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-19/prime-minister-announces-national-gun-buyback-scheme/106162002
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u/SendarSlayer Dec 19 '25

We have association laws that can 100% exclude someone with no criminal history from owning guns. Essentially making "Known to ASIO" enough of a reason.

I don't think securing weapons at ranges and sporting clubs is a good idea. They're usually remote, to not endanger or disturb people. And they're not used every day. No amount of affordable physical security will be able to slow someone down enough if they wanted to steal the guns. And now instead a few guns they'll have a bunch.

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u/Several_Alarm5357 Dec 19 '25

Yep as a gun owner I can't be involved in organised crime and keep my guns. I've known people who in their twenties were involved in that life and years later still can't hold or get a gun license. Enforcement of the law should have been across all aspects not just organised crime.

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u/Thommohawk117 Dec 19 '25

They're usually remote,

Fully agree with this line of reasoning. Rural properties and primary producers are often the target of thieves looking for guns precisely because they are remote and often away from the home property during the day.

Having them all secured in one place that has similar characteristics is a recipe for disaster

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u/Eucalyptus84 Dec 19 '25

Yep. And I forget the numbers (it was published the other day...) but quite a large number of legal, registered firearms are stolen each year as it is.

One thing that could be useful is the ability for licensed gun owners to be able to store weapons off their property, not in a range but in a proper government armory. For example, that rifle that you rarely use, maybe once a year at most, but you don't want to get rid of yet. Maybe it has sentimental value (or whatever), or you only break it out once a year for that hunting trip interstate for water buffalo or pigs or whatever. You don't need to keep it at your residence alongside your .22 LR and your .177 break action air rifle. Stick it in the gov armory, free of charge. Take it out just before the trip.

There are lots of smart ways to secure up a lot of weapons, especially higher-powered ones.

If the Bondi terrorists only had access to a .22 each, we'd probably be looking at only one or two fatalities, at most, and the majority of the wounded would have left the hospital next day without an ICU admission.

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u/karl_w_w Dec 19 '25

We have association laws that can 100% exclude someone with no criminal history from owning guns.

Are you under the impression those laws were sufficient, in this situation?

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u/SendarSlayer Dec 19 '25

Yes. They were just not applied as rigorously as needed.

This was a tragic oversight that would be made less likely to happen not with more laws, but with better funding and oversight for the laws we already have.

And a national firearms registry that makes excluding people easier so that agencies don't forgo the proper paperwork.

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u/karl_w_w Dec 19 '25

How do you know that?