Australia: National Gun Buyback Begins in New South Wales With 331 Appointments to Surrender 2,430 Firearms
The New South Wales government announced on November 2 that the National Gun Buyback Scheme has begun in the state: licence holders who signed up for Phase 1 started surrendering their firearms at police stations and will receive compensation within up to 10 days. Appointments opened last week, with 331 appointments already booked to surrender 2,430 firearms, as well as 194 ammunition items of one kilogram or more.
The buyback provides compensation to eligible licence holders who now hold firearms above the new ownership caps or whose firearms have been reclassified. Compensation in Phase 1 follows a fixed price schedule ranging from A$450 to A$1,000 per firearm, with a flat rate payment of A$150 for associated ammunition of 1kg or more. Licence holders must submit an online request via the Gun Safe portal to book a surrender at a participating police station, following safe storage and transportation rules at all times; walk-ins will not be accepted. Phase 2, commencing in early 2027, will provide a pathway for eligible higher-value firearms with an indicative market value above A$3,000, capped at A$10,000 per firearm.
Surrender points are rolling out in stages: Sutherland, Penrith, Narellan, Grafton, Griffith and Dubbo police stations in the first stage; thirty-four additional stations across NSW will come online from December 1, and by February 146 police stations across the state will be accepting surrenders. The buyback runs for 12 months. The state government also opened industry support grants of up to A$25,000 for eligible businesses and dealers, with one-off licence fee relief of A$500 per gun dealer.
The buyback is one part of the NSW Government's broader package of firearms reforms, introduced by the Minns government following the December 2025 Bondi Beach terrorist attack in which 15 people were killed, designed to strengthen oversight, reduce risk and reduce the number of firearms in the community. The NSW and federal governments are sharing the cost of the scheme, expected to run to hundreds of millions of dollars; an estimated 18 percent of NSW licence holders are affected by the new limits, with up to 274,000 firearms potentially eligible for surrender.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 照片：澳大利亚新南威尔士州警察在悉尼 Sydenham 街头执勤，J03098 摄，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY 4.0 授权 / Photo: New South Wales Police officers on a street in Sydenham, Sydney, Australia, by J03098, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
