What makes Australia's gun safety laws so effective?

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When gun ownership is legal in any country, there must be effective laws in place to keep everyone safe.

If there are guns for sale, gun owners must abide by specific rules set in Australia to minimise the dangers to themselves and the public.

The Port Arthur incident was a significant turning point in the evolution of Australia's gun laws, leading to the implementation of the National Firearms Agreement (NFA), which has had a positive effect on gun laws in Australia.

New gun laws were introduced to ban civilian ownership of rapid-fire guns, and these laws were consistent from one state to the next.

Exceptions to ownership of these types of weapons can still be granted, but they require restricted licenses. The government also implements a buyback scheme for all semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns and rifles to enforce these new laws further.

With new laws in place and all guns now deemed illegal removed from the equation, most people would agree that the NFA has positively impacted gun safety in Australia.

Let's take a look at just a few reasons that Australia's gun laws are so effective.

Before the implementation of the National Firearms Agreement, gun registration rules varied depending on the type of gun in question and the state.

Nowadays, however, owners must individually register all guns, and every sale of a gun must be tracked, recording any changes in ownership.

This major change has had a huge impact on gun ownership in Australia, leading to a reduction in the number of guns in the country by 20 per cent.

This has also subsequently led to the removal and destruction of more than 700,000 guns in the process.

Since the introduction of the NFA laws in 1996, the number of gun-related fatalities has dropped significantly.

Prior to these new laws being introduced, there had been a total of thirteen mass shootings in an eighteen-year period from 1988 to the gun law reforms in 1996.

Following the implementation of these new stricter gun laws, there have been no mass shootings in Australia for twenty-five years, which goes to show how effective these new laws have been.

In addition to the elimination of mass shootings, Australia has also experienced a huge decrease in shooting fatalities.

For example, in 1996, before the Australian Government implemented the National Firearms Agreement, the population stood at about eighteen million. There were a total of 521 recorded deaths from firearms that year.

By contrast, in 2019, even though the population rose to more than twenty-five million, there were just 219 gun-related deaths, according to official data.

While this number is still higher than most would like, it certainly shows a step in the right direction.

While Australia's gun laws are certainly proving to be effective, many people argue that there is still much to be done.

If national uniform laws are to be enacted to protect gun owners and the general public, there are a number of things that still need to be considered.

There is still a call for national registration of firearms to be implemented, eligibility for obtaining a firearm license to be addressed, and many people are calling for an absolute ban on particular subsets of firearms.

Cooling off periods after gun sales, minimum training requirements, and storage regulations may also need to be looked at to ensure a safer country for everyone.

While Australia has undoubtedly led the way with gun laws in recent years and set a great example, there is still a lot to do to ensure that our country continues to be a safe and just place for everyone to live.