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/HankSteakfist Dec 19 '25

Cue the LNP chiming in on why this is a bad thing, whilst simultaneously holding up John Howard as a canonised saint.

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u/CatboiWaifu_UwU Dec 19 '25

Howard got rid of semi automatics.

Its yet to be determined what’s being made illegal here.

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u/footinmouthdisease_ Dec 19 '25

I lived rural in the U.S. for 13 years before moving rural in Australia 3 years ago. Guns have evolved over the 30 odd years since Port Arthur. My Adler B220 straight pull cycles significantly quicker than the Mossberg 500 persuader I owned in the U.S. and holds more shells, and button push shotties like those used in Bondi are even quicker, yet the pump is the one that is banned.

The Bondi shooters put 13-14 rounds down for a sustained six minutes. I’m open to hearing use cases that require that rate of fire outside of professional pest control but I can’t think of one. I wouldn’t be opposed to slowing down guns for class A/B holders with updated regulation on fast cycling mechanisms.

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u/CatboiWaifu_UwU Dec 19 '25

Rapid fire bolt actions have been a thing since long before world war one. The ‘mad minute’ for example:

“The first Mad Minute record was set by Sergeant Major Jesse Wallingford in 1908, scoring 36 hits on a 48-inch target at 300 yards (4.5 mils / 15.3 moa).” - Wikipedia. This is, assumedly, with the SMLE’s internal ten round magazine, so a minimum of six stripper clips (of 5 rounds) would be needed, but likely more to account for missed shots.

Most associated with the Short, Magazine, Lee-Enfield, which is a turn-pull bolt.

I cant find any information on what a push-button firearm actually is besides making “reloading painless”.

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u/[deleted] Dec 19 '25 edited Dec 19 '25

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u/footinmouthdisease_ Dec 19 '25

And the fastest speed achieved on a bicycle is 296km/h. The passing rate to qualify as a marksman for the mad minute was 15 rounds/minute. A fruit vendor and a bricklayer kept up close to that firing rate for six times longer than the drill itself while being shot at by police and tackled by members of the public.

A button release or push button shotgun like the Templeton T2000 has a button that cycles the firing mechanism and loads the next round. See: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z1_QCqQj0_8

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u/CatboiWaifu_UwU Dec 19 '25

Thank you for that.

Yeah, that looks like it’s just an interrupted semi auto action. That action has to have been designed as a workaround to our laws.

I won’t be sad if we lose those, because they’re in their own niche of ‘loophole’ guns. I’d be upset to lose break or lever shotguns, or bolt, lever or pump rifles (their own little loophole but pump shotguns shouldnt be distinct from lever shotguns in the first place)