Ever since the aftermath of Port Arthur, Australia has been hailed as the world’s gold standard of gun control. But is that really true?
According to research by The Australia Institute, there are over four million guns legally owned by civilians in Australia (2024), 25% more than before the Port Arthur massacre. Fact is, Howard’s much heralded gun control laws took only about 500,000 away, less than 20% of the then (estimated) total.
Owning a gun in Australia is not a right. It is “a privilege that is conditional on the overriding need to ensure public safety”, according to the National Firearms Agreement to which all states and territories and the federal government agreed in 1996. They reaffirmed their agreement in 2017.
Despite that, much of what was agreed has yet to be implemented, and there is still no National Firearms Register. Interestingly, a mere 2,000 guns are reported stolen every year, 0.05% of what’s known to be in private hands.
It remains true that it takes a man (mostly) to pull the trigger, but four million legal guns is still a lot of triggers.
Every wondered how many guns are in your suburb? We have built a tool that shows registered firearms by postcode across NSW.https://t.co/IbimDJzZSG
Having access to data can help us all understand how our gun laws are actually working (or failing to work!)
— David Shoebridge (@DavidShoebridge) December 17, 2025
