Amnesty to hand in illegal guns from July

The federal government will hold a three-month national gun amnesty from July in a bid to get illegal guns off Australia's streets.

A selection of hand guns are displayed at the Police Centre in Sydney — The government will hold a three-month national gun amnesty in a bid to get illegal guns off streets (AAP)

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Published 5 March 2017 1:44pm

Source: AAP

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Gun owners around the country will be asked to surrender illicit firearms without fear of prosecution in the fist national gun amnesty for more than 20 years.

The three-month amnesty will start from July 1 and will grant immunity from prosecution but not include a buyback, unlike the action the federal government took in 1996 in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre.

"This is as much about giving families a chance to get rid of an old heirloom as it is about getting rid of guns off our streets," Justice Minister Michael Keenan told AAP on Sunday.

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