We had a compulsory national hand-in of guns about 20 years ago in the wake of a mass killing by one crazed individual in Tasmania.
All automatic and semi-automatic weapons became illegal (including BB guns, shotguns and 22's). As a result hundreds of thousands of weapons were handed in. Owners could watch their rifles being destroyed in a press at the collection centres to avoid any talk of guns being resold etc.
As discussed, the government had to pay for the weapons at a cost of several hundred million dollars. A team of qualified gunsmiths and registered dealers drew up a value for EVERY weapon model and type - thousands of them. No matter what disgruntled owners say the prices were top dollar retail and all weapons were treated as Grade A condition.
Among others, I had to hand in an automatic shotgun given to me by my father on my 21st birthday. I got about twice the price I would have expected in a normal sale.
Of course, the whole thing was a farce set-up by politicians to cater for the hand-wringers and left wingers, who danced in the streets over all these weapons being removed from public hands.
The utter stupidity of the whole scheme was apparent to anybody with the slightest knowledge. I had to hand in my shotgun, 22 autos, MI Carbine and Garand because they were now illegal.
This only left me with fully legal bolt action .303 Jungle Carbine. SMLE, 310 Martini Cadet rifle and my Parker-Hale 243 plus a couple of bolt 22's and an under and over shotgun!
We are now down to about 2 weapons for every man, woman and child in Australia in private hands - they certainly must be stored in approved locked containers which the police check every few years.
Hand guns have always been illegal in Australia and outside military and security work may not be owned by anyone but regular attending pistol club members and of course criminals.
There is currently an amnesty (no payment) for anyone having illegal weapons to hand them in with no punishment upon threat of jail terms for ownership after the amnesty period expires. The collection centres and police stations have been underwhelmed by the public response.
Lang
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