SSAA NSW

8 Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW) Inc. New South Wales (NSW) together with all other States and Territories conducted a three (3) month National Firearms Amnesty (amnesty) which commenced on 1 July 2017 and concluded at midnight on 30 September 2017. The aim of the amnesty was to either register firearms or remove them from the community and provided members of the community the ability to do so without fear of prosecution. The NSW model and applicable legislation provided persons the ability to: • surrender a firearm or prohibited weapon, • apply to register an unregistered firearm, or • supply a firearm to a participating firearms dealer. The NSW Police Force Firearms Registry, wish to take this opportunity to thank members of the community who participated in the amnesty. The amnesty was deemed a success with nationally over 51,000 firearms handed in for registration, sale or destruction. In NSW over 14,500 firearms were registered by individuals, nearly 8,000 were surrendered to police for destruction and another 2,000 plus were supplied to firearms dealers. In addition to the above figures, ammunition (in excess of 150,000 rounds), prohibited weapons, firearm parts and accessories were also handed in as part of the amnesty. NSW not only received high volumes of unregistered firearms, but a number of firearms of significance were also surrendered as part of the amnesty. This included submachine guns, SKS and M1 carbine self-loading rifles. The following is a summary of the total firearms received during the National Firearms Amnesty for each State or Territory (published in a media release in October 2017 on the Prime Minister of Australia – The Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP website - https://www.pm.gov.au/): New South Wales: 24,965 Queensland: 16,000 Victoria: 3,654 South Australia: 2,648 Tasmania: 1,924 Western Australia: 1,242 Australian Capital Territory: 709 Northern Territory: 322 NATIONAL TOTAL: 51,330 A comparison of the NSW amnesty figures against the figures of all other States and Territories (National figures listed above) reveals that NSW collected and accounted for nearly half of the national total. More detailed results and analysis will be forthcoming in a final national amnesty report to be prepared and released by the Commonwealth. Despite the obvious successes of the amnesty, there is still much work to be done. Since the conclusion of the amnesty it is clear that there are still unregistered firearms located within our community. In particular, just three months after the finalisation of the amnesty, police located and seized 118 firearms, consisting of revolvers, rifles, shotguns and shortened rifles from a rural property in Cobar. Of the 118 firearms, it has been reported that 109 of those firearms were unregistered. This matter, along with other discoveries of unregistered firearms, clearly highlights the continual existence of unregistered firearms within our community and emphasises that work is still required in this important area of policing. Unregistered firearms present a significant risk to the community. With this in mind, it is a timely reminder of the legislative requirements in relation to unregistered firearms: Section 36(1) of the Firearms Act 1996 prescribes that a person must not supply, acquire, possess or use a firearm that is not registered. Maximum penalty: imprisonment for 14 years if the firearm concerned is a pistol or prohibited firearm, or imprisonment for 5 years in any other case. If you are in possession or come into the possession of an unregistered firearm you must immediately surrender the firearm to police. Additional information regarding the firearm registration requirements is available on our website on the 'Firearms and Ammunition' page. See the Firearms Registry website link below: http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/online_services/firearms Anyone with information regarding firearm related crime in NSW should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Remember, you can choose to remain anonymous. Bruce Lyons Director, NSW Firearms Registry Outcome of the 2017 National Firearms Amnesty NSW Police Firearms Registry

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