MELBOURNE, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- A rise in gun-related crime in Melbourne has prompted state and federal governments to consider a national gun amnesty.
The National Justice Project and senior police officials unanimously agreed to the amnesty in August and state ministers will soon follow, meaning a date for the amnesty will be set before the end of 2016.
The national gun amnesty would give Australians who possess a firearm illegally the opportunity to forfeit their guns without penalty.
Australia's last national gun amnesty came in 1997, following the murder of 35 people by a gunman in Port Arthur in 1996, and resulted in over 700,000 guns being voluntarily handed in.
Figures from the Crime Statistics Agency published on Sunday revealed that firearm offences have more than doubled in Melbourne over the past five years - from 1,980 in 2011 to an expected 4,947 in 2016 - as have gunshot injuries, from 15 in 2011 to 31 in 2016.
Victoria's Police Minister Lisa Neville said on Wednesday the state government would support the proposed amnesty.
"We are working with our State, Territory and Commonwealth colleagues on how it will be rolled out. The Commonwealth is leading this work and the details are still to be settled," Neville told Fairfax Media on Wednesday.
A spokesman from the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, a charity aimed at caring for children who have experienced or witnessed violence, praised the proposal and said the amnesty must come with a national conversation about why the guns are being seized to build community support.
"The Australian community cannot get complacent about this - for people to feel that it's all done and fixed," said Lesley Podesta, chief executive of the foundation, which was named after two girls killed at Port Arthur.
"One of the things we know from the previous buyback is that it was accompanied by an enormous amount of community education, public information, public debate and bringing people together within the community around saying 'this is how we want our country to be.' That's really crucial."
Australia's Justice Minister, Michael Keenan, said that he would introduce legislation to parliament that would double the maximum penalty for gun-related crime and introduce a mandatory five-year jail sentence for firearm trafficking.
"The illegal trafficking of firearms is a deadly crime and just one illegal firearm is a huge threat to the safety of Australians," Keenan said on Wednesday.
Victoria's shadow Police Minister, Edward O'Donohue, said a new amnesty would not deter the criminals who access guns illegally.
"Any response from Victoria Police and (state) government should be focused on this cohort, not lawful guns owners," O'Donohue said.
Gary Bryant, general manager of the Firearm Safety and Training Council, agreed with O'Donohue's position.
"Licensed firearm owners and users are not the problem. The problem is criminals and criminals do not respond to regulatory environment. They don't care about regulations," he said.
