- Gun ownership in Sydney is rising, with some licence holders owning hundreds of firearms
- Six of the top 10 gun owners in NSW live in Sydney suburbs without being dealers or collectors
- The average licence holder in Sydney owns three or more guns; statewide average is over four
Days after at least 15 people, including a child, were killed in a deadly shooting on Bondi Beach, new data shows that gun ownership in Sydney has been on the rise, with many buying multiple firearms on a single licence.
In New South Wales (NSW), several licence-holders have almost 300 guns each linked to a single licence, with six of the top 10 owners living in suburban Sydney and none of these individuals being collectors or dealers.
Firearms registry data show that some Sydney licence holders own hundreds of guns. One person in Chifley–La Perouse has 295 guns, another in Punchbowl 226, a Terrey Hills resident 207, Narrabeen 198, and Burwood 192, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
About 41 per cent of license holders live in major cities such as Sydney, Newcastle, and Wollongong.
The data also shows that the average licence holder in Sydney owns three or more guns, while the statewide average in New South Wales is over four guns per licence holder. About one in 33 people in NSW has a gun licence, with 1,133,690 individual firearms legally registered – the highest of any Australian state.
In NSW, a person who has a firearms licence can legally own any number of guns. There's no maximum limit set by law. A suburb might have only 20 or 30 licence holders, but a few of them each may own over 200 guns.
Stephen Bendle, from the Australian Gun Safety Alliance, points out that there are nearly 500,000 firearms legally owned on suburban streets in Australia. Data show Camden in south-west Sydney has the most licensed gun owners with 2,621 residents, followed by Windsor (2,232), Liverpool (2,010), Wyong (1,736), Gosford (1,587), and Campbelltown (1,433).
According to a January report by The Australia Institute, a think tank, there are now over 4 million guns legally owned by civilians, a 25 per cent increase compared to 1996, when stricter gun laws were introduced after the Port Arthur massacre.
The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission reports that apart from the guns that are legally registered, there are also about 200,000 illegal firearms in circulation across the country.
After the terrorist attack, Australian leaders are planning stricter nationwide gun controls, including limits on how many guns a person can own and licenses being issued to Australian citizens.
The proposals came after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called an urgent meeting of state leaders to discuss gun laws following the attack, The Guardian reported.
Albanese also urged Australia's national cabinet to review the National Firearms Agreement, which was first created after the 1996 Port Arthur mass shooting, to tighten gun laws across the country.
