Perth firearm owners to be offered up to $1000 in voluntary gun buyback ahead of tough new WA laws

Firearm owners will be offered up to $1000 to hand in their weapons ahead of new ownership laws being introduced to Parliament next week. Ahead of Labor’s long-promised gun reforms, touted as the toughest in the nation, Police Minister Paul Papalia has released details of a $64 million, six-month gun buyback scheme, starting on Wednesday February 21. Under the buyback, based on the 1996 Commonwealth program after the Port Arthur massacre, owners will receive a payment in line with retail baseline valuations, developed with industry. The payment will vary based on the type of weapon and its age, ranging from $1000 for a newer revolver handgun to $233 for an older rifle. But the buyback details come amid a fierce debate from a lobby group for gun owners, which has rolled out an advertising campaign personally targeting Mr Papalia and the reforms. The new laws will limit the number of guns West Australians can own, with the buyback designed to encourage them to hand their weapons in. Other key changes include enhanced storage requirements, mandatory firearms training, compulsory health checks, new licence types, reform of the written authority system, and the introduction of mandatory disqualifying offences. Mr Papalia said all firearms owners should consider taking part in the voluntary buyback. “Law changes will make it harder to obtain a firearm licence, there will be stricter regulation surrounding where you can use and store firearms, and many Western Australians who purchased a property letter online as a reason to get a licence may struggle to get a new written authority,” he said. “The $64.3 million buyback will remove tens of thousands of unnecessary firearms from the community, and see the Cook Government establish WA as the first State in Australia to place limits on the number of firearms a person can own. “Unfortunately, a number of high-profile firearm incidents have compromised the safety of regular, law-abiding Western Australians in recent years. If there are fewer firearms in the community, there will fewer opportunities for them to be used inappropriately.” Premier Roger Cook said the laws struck a balance between the legitimate and responsible use of firearms and public safety. “There are more than 360,000 licensed firearms owned by fewer than 90,000 Western Australians, and the new legislation will impact all of them in a responsible way,” the Premier said. “The changes will see WA introduce the most robust management of firearms in the country. This will also mean the State will be ready and equipped to participate in a national firearms registry. “The crackdown will also modernise the way police record, monitor, and enforce our firearm legislation.” Over the weekend, the Western Australian Firearms Community Alliance launched a campaign against the reforms, claiming the WA Government had launched a “war on the weekend”. In a statement, WAFCA spokesman Paul Fitzgerald said the Government had ignored legal gun owners. Firearm buyback value Less than six years old More than six years old