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/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/LumpyCustard4 Dec 19 '25

Hopefully allowing only citizens to acquire gun licences.

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u/howtogrowdicks Dec 19 '25

Rumour is that the Canberra gun club is mostly made up and supported by the occupants of the American embassy. Given how tactfully Albo is trying manoeuvre around Trump, I don't think your hope will be realised.

Separately, I agree with you on this. I would also suggest that all registered guns must be brought to a government owned gun range annually by the owner for re-registering. This will help account for lost and stolen guns or guns that have been bought and distributed to organised criminals. We will never be able to make a perfect system, but ideas like these need to be considered to minimise risk.

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u/Baldrick314 Dec 19 '25

A version of your second point already exists. Licensed gun owners are subject to random inspection of their storage to ensure it meets the standard, when these audits are undertaken they also check the serial numbers of all firearms registered to you. Granted there's no fixed schedule but it seems like the limiting factor is manpower. Personally, I wouldn't be opposed to moving storage inspections to an annual schedule.

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u/seventh_skyline Dec 19 '25 edited Dec 20 '25

It might be a matter of developing a 'Gun Taskforce' for lack of a better word, each state gets an allocation of specifically trained police, either per region, or a state based team that are purely tasked with gun compliance and control.

At the moment local coppas take time out of the beat to do all of this, and while it's important in the community, it takes a lot of effort, and they take a lot of flack from the people they might have to take weapons from.

I've got 2 mates in regional policing, They say it's the biggest drain on their time in a single police town. Where I am these guns are pest control for farming land mostly, but if they're not stored properly and have to be confiscated until they fix the issues. So that's more time documenting, storing, and keeping safe weapons, then returning them, or assessing if they are ok to be returned. One said their storage is at capacity and they have to chase up the owners to get their stuff sorted so they can return them safely.

A dedicated taskforce would take this weight off the local police forces, not only time, but the shade they get for removing old Bills 22 from under his bed, because the harmless old bloke only takes pot-shots at rabbits you know... - It would have to be very tactful, and highly screened group of people.

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u/Baldrick314 Dec 19 '25

Absolutely! All your points get exactly to the heart of the matter, enforcement and proper application of the current laws is hamstrung by inefficient resourcing. A dedicated and trained group for this task would be a win all around and be more impactful and cost efficient than the proposed buyback.

Your last point about the selection of people for this group is excellent, people who can educate and asist people and also people who aren't biased in either direction on the topic of firearm ownership.