NSW: More than 5,000 guns brought forward in amnesty
05 Apr 2009 12:54 PM
SYDNEY, April 5 AAP - Owners of more than 5,000 firearms previously unknown to NSW police have come forward during the first month of the state government's gun amnesty.
Police Minister Tony Kelly says 796 firearms have been surrendered in the first month of the amnesty, with applications also taken out to register 5,000 weapons.
The surrendered guns include 606 rifles, 49 handguns, 141 shotguns and 11 replica firearms.
"The police now know where those guns are," Mr Kelly told reporters on Sunday.
"They were guns that were in the community, not necessarily held by criminals, but by people who had come by the guns and not got around to registering them in the past."
However, Mr Kelly doesn't expect anyone involved in crime to be among those coming forward to surrender or register guns during the three-month amnesty.
"I'd expect none, if any, have come from hardened criminals," he said.
"We don't expect to get sawn-off shotguns or AK-47s handed in.
"What we do expect is ... farmers who have moved into town and no longer have a need for them or when the husband has passed away and the wife doesn't know what to do with them."
The amnesty reminder comes in the week where NSW Police charged two men over the illegal supply of military-style firearms and other weapons.
The weapon cache included a Russian-designed Kalashnikov military rifle - the first AK-47 recovered by NSW Police.
Mr Kelly said police planned to carry out an audit of all gun safes in NSW once the amnesty ended next month.
He said it could be 10 years before such an amnesty would occur again, saying it costs millions of dollars to conduct the operation.
The firearm amnesty ends on May 31.
