There are more guns in Australia than before 1996 gun buy back
27 August 2025
Collectively Australians own four million guns, about twice the number held in 2001.
This despite strict gun ownership laws introduced following the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, bans on certain types of firearms, and a gun buyback program in 1996, which resulted in over six-hundred thousand weapons being destroyed.
Australians can still legally own firearms, but must satisfy a number of prerequisites to do so. These include showing a genuine reason for possession — which some people, farmers for example, might have — along with keeping guns stored securely when not in use.
Four million guns is a lot, and equates to about one gun for every seven Australians. While some people feel gun ownership is a right, and have no problem adhering to ownership laws, others in the community are concerned legally owned firearms might somehow fall into the wrong hands.
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@disassociated.com Yeah and population a lot bigger as well!
Didn’t think of that! Australian population today is up about seven million from 2000 so that might account for some of the increased ownership.