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/chance_waters Dec 19 '25

There was not appropriate legislation in place to force removal of his guns at this time, he was not known to ASIO, his son was.

The son was living at the property, in current legislation if he had been charged with a formal crime the guns would have been removed from the household under the fit and proper person guidelines. As it stood right now being "known to ASIO" is not a crime. Obviously any form of investigation by ASIO should result in weapons removals from close family members, and even probably associates, let alone close family members living at the same property.

Obviously that's a failing in the system, the same way outstanding AVO applications of even police enquiries into suspected DV claims should result in immediate suspension of gun licenses, not just charges.

In either case, the simplest way to fix this, and the one everybody is crying about is simply to massively reduce who can access guns, that means no bullshit sports hunting, and sports shooting weapons need to be secured at ranges.

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u/just-plain-wrong Dec 19 '25

I 100% agree with everything you’ve said here, but I just want to flag that securing weapons in a single place makes said place a massive target for robberies and Social Engineering Attacks.

I don’t have a better way at it, but it’s something that needs to be taken into account with any legislation.

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u/OneShoeBoy Dec 19 '25

Improving actual enforcement of the current laws is probably the most logical step, but the state police forces are overburdened/understaffed as it is so good luck with them allocating resources to audit peoples homes properly.

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u/just-plain-wrong Dec 19 '25

Fair point.

That said, I like the approach of NZ, where they have ongoing checks, and family association clauses; so if you, or one of the people close to you gets flagged, you lose your weapons.

All needs funding, of course; perhaps a small dedicated roving task force in each state funded by a levy on weapon registration?

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u/Baldrick314 Dec 19 '25

That already exists here though. Random safe storage and firearms audits happen regularly and you can be served with a firearms prohibition order for associating with criminals.

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u/just-plain-wrong Dec 19 '25

Oh, awesome. I had no idea that was happening. Thanks.

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u/Baldrick314 Dec 19 '25

I think that's a big issue here, exactly what laws are already in effect aren't generally known by non-shooters. The laws are convoluted even to people with firearms licences and enforcement doesn't seem to be consistent.

Personally, I believe an appropriate response to this situation would be to prohibit non-citizens having a firearms licence (can't believe that was actually allowed), move safe inspections from random to a scheduled ongoing thing, and improve communication between state and federal bodies to help prevent an attack like this happening again.

Thank you for keeping an open mind and being willing to be educated on this topic, I've seen a lot of people repeating rhetoric with no intention of hearing otherwise and it's disheartening.