Shooters will still be allowed four to 10 guns. Bondi terrorist Sajid Akram had six |
It is almost three decades since 35 people died in the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, in reaction to which Australia established its world-leading National Firearms Agreement. While the major components of the NFA remain in effect – such as national firearm registration, licences and the prohibition of semi-automatic rifles – the powerful gun lobby has managed to undermine and erode their protective pillars.
Since 1996, the number of guns legally owned in Australia has grown by 25 per cent to 4 million, but now they are in the hands of about half as many owners.
Naveed Akram, the son of licensed gun owner Sajid Akram, amid the mass shooting at Bondi last Sunday.Credit:
Sajid Akram was one of them. On Sunday, the 50-year-old took his six legally acquired, high-powered guns to Bondi, where he and his 24-year-old son, Naveed, allegedly shot dead 15 people and wounded dozens.
How did Sajid Akram get so many guns? A significant erosion of the 1996 laws has been the winding back of regulations relating to the permit to acquire firearms. The NFA resolutions required licence holders to undergo checks for each application for an additional firearm to ensure circumstances had not changed and that the licensee was still eligible for the type of firearm. Due to pressure from the gun lobby, governments across the country have transformed the permit-to-acquire process into a risky farce.
Instead of a gun licence holder having to undergo checks for each additional firearm, the approval for the first gun........