Australia’s gun lobby says it is “winning” the fight against firearm control, pointing to a surge in licensed gun owners and weapons since laws were tightened after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. In a June video address to members of the Shooters Union, president Graham Park claimed the increase in ownership to over four million guns shows efforts to restrict ownership have failed.
Figures from the Australia Institute show there are now more than four million legal guns nationally, almost double the number recorded in the years after the massacre. Over the past five years, gun numbers have risen by over 10% in Victoria and New South Wales, 30% in Queensland and 45% in the Northern Territory. At least 2,000 new guns enter the community lawfully each week.
Park outlined a strategy to double the number of licensed firearm holders to increase political influence. “The more people with gun licences, the more political influence,” he said, adding that politicians respect numbers. He described the national firearms agreement as the “wet dream of the anti-gunners” but said the growth in ownership proves the push to restrict firearms has failed.
Half a dozen pro-gun groups have banded together for the first time to resist further national restrictions, alarmed particularly by new laws in Western Australia limiting the number of guns per licence holder. Experts warn that Australia’s gun laws, once seen as a global gold standard, need strengthening as the number of legal guns booms.
