SYDNEY, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- With just over one month left in Australia's first national gun amnesty in 20 years, the results so far have been encouraging, a state minister said Tuesday.
In the state of New South Wales alone, over 6,000 unlicensed firearms have been either registered, sold, or destroyed in the amnesty which began on July 1, and will end on Sept. 30 of this year, Troy Grant, the Minister for Police of New South Wales, told Xinhua.
He said he was encouraged and "extremely pleased" by the results so far in the nationwide program, and is looking forward to the program's continued success.
"It is encouraging to see people are taking this opportunity to ensure they possess their firearms within the strict firearms regime we have in NSW," Grant said.
"From a public safety perspective, the less illegal and unregistered firearms on our streets, the better."
People across Australia have until the September end date to surrender their weapons, which has so far seen assault rifles, 9 mm homemade submachine guns, AR-15 rifles, and Magnum handguns all being presented to police to be processed.
The last amnesty in Australia was the National Firearms Agreement launched in the wake of the violent Port Arthur Massacre that saw 35 people killed, and 23 wounded in the picturesque Port Arthur in the state of Tasmania in 1996.
At that time, over 640,000 semi-automatic guns were bought back from owners by the Australian government, which then ballooned to over a million with subsequent amnesties that were conducted.
Over 460 shotguns, 1,700 rifles, and 200 handguns have been surrendered so far, with thousands more officially registered as part of the current national amnesty process.
