✍️ PETITION: Australia Needs a National Firearms Register
For many, Australia’s strong gun laws have long been a source of national pride – a point of difference from the United States, where gun deaths are the highest in the world.
But our research has revealed there are now more licenced firearms in Australia than before the 1996 Port Arthur massacre – and we still have no National Firearms Register.
Just 12 days after 35 innocent Australians were massacred, then-Prime Minister John Howard announced a National Firearms Agreement. It was ambitious, politically brave and necessary for public safety.
But almost three decades on, the Howard reforms are not living up to their promise. While Australia’s gun control laws are acclaimed as world-leading, they are neither perfect nor complete.
Alarmingly, our research shows that there are now 800,000 more licenced guns in Australia than after the 1996 gun buyback, and Australia's firearm homicide rate is higher than the UK, Spain and Germany.
Australians need gun laws that live up to the Howard Government’s bravery and right now, we don’t have them.
State and territory governments have already agreed to the need for a National Firearms Register, first in 2006, again in 2017 and again in 2023. Now it’s up to the Federal Government to make it a reality.
On the current timeline, Australia will be lucky to see an operational National Firearms Register before the next federal election. We have already waited too long. The time for action is now.
✍️ Add your name to call on the Federal Government to urgently establish a National Firearms Register.
More information about Australia’s gun laws
- After the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996, then- Prime Minister John Howard led the introduction of the National Firearms Agreement.
- This agreement only required guns to be registered at a state and territory level – not through a unified, national system.
- In 2006 and again in 2017, all state and territory government agreed to establish a National Firearms Register.
- We first reported on this issue in 2019, and published a follow-up in January: 29 years on: Australia’s gun laws still fall short of John Howard’s pledge.
- There are now 800,000 more licenced guns in Australia than after the 1996 gun buyback, which saw 650,000 guns taken out of circulation.
Why do we need a National Firearms Register?
- A National Firearms Register would help close dangerous loopholes and better protect public safety.
- For example, someone with an ammunition limit in one state could drive across the border and buy as much ammunition as they want.
- Right now, Australia’s gun control laws vary from state to state, making them difficult to enforce.
- It would help state and territory police coordinate to keep Australians safer.
WATCH ▶️
To The Hon. Tony Burke MP Minister for Home Affairs, The Hon. Michelle Rowland MP Attorney-General of Australia, and the Standing Council of Attorneys General –
We call on the Australian Government to protect public safety by establishing a National Firearms Register before the end of this term of government.
State and territory governments have repeatedly agreed to the need for a National Firearms Register – now it’s up to the Federal Government to make it a reality.