CANBERRA, Australia — More than 57,000 illegal firearms including a rocket launcher and machine-guns were handed in during a recent Australian amnesty in which gun owners could surrender such weapons without penalty. A virtual ban on private ownership of semi-automatic rifles and a government-funded gun buyback cut the size of Australia’s civilian arsenal by almost a third. Before the amnesty, Sydney University gun policy analyst Philip Alpers predicted it would only collect “rubbish guns” that were not valued by legitimate gun owners or criminals. The amnesty report said a rocket launcher had been handed into a gun dealer rather than police. A government inquiry into the siege recommended the government deal with illegal guns in the community.

Source: National Post March 01, 2018 02:50 UTC