Key Points
- Around three in 100 Australians are licensed firearms owners.
- Expert says firearms laws have “little” impact on Australian homicide rate.
- ‘Majority of deaths by guns are by way of self-harm or suicide’: public health expert.
Trigger alert: This story contains information about firearms that can be perceived as violent. If that causes distress to you, please do not read any further.
In Australia, around three in 100 people are licensed gun owners.
Rocky Shi is one of them.
Having grown up as an ardent gun lover, he could only realise his long-held dream of owning them after migrating to Australia in 2013.
“I was so excited that I bought four long guns in one go on the first day when I got my firearms licence,” he tells SBS Chinese.
Mr Shi says that many people perceive gun lovers as violent but he insists this is not true.
A person who is kind or violent cannot be judged by whether he owns a gun.Rocky Shi, gun enthusiast
'Laws have little impact on homicide rate': expert
Some anti-gun lobbyists are concerned that more firearms may increase the likelihood of homicide in Australia.
But experts say this concern is unfounded.
Dr Samara McPhedran is an expert on gun violence and policy from the University of Queensland.
The balance of research evidence suggests that Australia’s firearm laws have had little (if any) impact on firearm homicide rates.Dr Samara McPhedran, University of Queensland
She further explains that while gun ownership in Australia is increasing, the rate of gun homicides has remained low.
The number of privately-owned firearms registered in Australia has increased by 18 per cent from 3.2 million in 1996 to nearly 3.8 million in 2020, according to the latest data released by University of Sydney’s
At the same time, the annual rate of firearm homicides has declined from 0.57 per 100,000 people in 1996 to 0.13 in 2020.
Data shows an overall downward trend in the annual rate of gun homicides per 100,000 people in Australia. Credit: GunPolicy.org
But “it is difficult to disentangle any impacts of gun laws from other social and economic changes that were occurring around the same time,” she adds.
Professor Joel Negin, head of University of Sydney’s School of Public Health, tells SBS Chinese that “a large majority of firearms deaths are by way of self-harm or suicide”.
He reminds the community, including firearm owners, gun clubs, police and healthcare providers to “do more to support people who are going through a hard time and to reduce access to firearms during these times”.
Gun control in China vs Australia
At the time of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, civilian gun control was not as strict as it has been in contemporary times.
Large quantities of firearms and ammunition flowed into the civilian population in the 1960s and 1970s.
It was not until 1996 that China introduced a national gun control law banning private gun ownership in the country.
“Any organisation or individual is not allowed to possess, manufacture (including alteration and assembly), buy, sell, transport, rent or lend firearms [in China],” the national law states.
China prohibits private citizens from owning firearms, which are mostly held by the military. Source: AAP
The National Firearms Agreement (NFA) was triggered by the Port Arthur massacre to strengthen its firearms control.
On 28 April 1996, a gunman named Martin Bryant opened fire in Port Arthur, Tasmania, killing 35 people including young children and injuring 23 others.
The then-prime minister John Howard swung into action to establish a national firearms law 12 days after the tragedy, introducing a firearms registration system and restricting access to certain types of firearms within Australia.
Living the dream
Mr Shi says shooting was his “suppressed hobby” in China where private ownership of firearms was impossible by law.
He compares the “too strict” gun control policy of China with that of the US, where he occasionally visits for shooting events.
Firearms control in the United States is overly lax.Rocky Shi
With nearly 400 million civilian firearms, the United States has the most guns in the world, according to Small Arms Survey.
Mr Shi believes Australia’s current firearms policy is “on the right developing track”.
“Australia allows private ownership of firearms, but each person must know very well how to use a gun legally and safely [before owning it],” he says.
Rocky Shi's gun collection began to build up only after he migrated to Australia in 2013. Credit: Rocky Shi
Australian civilians now own almost 3.8 million registered firearms, an average of four each.
The data, released by in 2021, also shows that an estimated 260,000 illegal guns are owned by private gun owners in the “grey market” of undeclared weapons.
According to the Firearms Act 1996, an applicant must be a ‘fit and proper person’ to own a firearm in Australia.
A Victoria Police spokesperson explains to SBS Chinese that assessing if an applicant is “fit and proper” involves various factors, such as criminal history, associations, physical and mental health impacts.
“Anyone caught breaching the conditions of their licences or failing in their obligations can expect to have their authority cancelled and to be charged or issued with penalty notices,” the spokesperson adds.
Rocky Shi visits the United States for shooting events. Credit: Rocky Shi
However, Tim Quinn, a spokesperson for Gun Control Australia, a Melbourne-based anti-gun association, disagrees.
“We do not agree it [shooting] is ‘just a common sport’ in the way golf or tennis is a common sport,” he says.
Australians need to be confident that the licensing system is acting in the most rigorous way to protect the community from gun violence.Tim Quinn, Gun Control Australia
Mr Quinn further points out that Australian gun laws are facing many “constant and changing” challenges, including “the proliferation of guns, increased licensing of firearms, and ever-more-dangerous new weapons into our communities”.
"The National Firearms Agreement is in need of an update to capture changes in technology and trends, and this is an area that the Commonwealth could show leadership to guide reform through in the states through the Police Ministers Council," Mr Quinn adds.
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