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Greens launch $350m guns buyback plan

The Greens want to ban semi-automatic firearms and buy them back from their legal owners at a cost of $350 million.

Gun.

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Source: AAP


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The Greens want to spend more than $350 million to ban semi-automatic handguns and buy them back from their owners.

But the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA) said that would not affect the guns used by drug gangs for drive-by shootings in western Sydney.

Greens leader Christine Milne said gun violence could not be tackled without taking guns off the streets.

"We need strong action to reduce the number of handguns falling into the wrong hands. They have become the firearm of choice for criminals in Australia, especially in the drug trade and in gangs," she said in a statement.

Under the Greens plan, costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office at $351.5 million, semi-automatic handguns would be banned, with a 12-month amnesty and buyback.

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SSAA chief executive Tim Bannister said drive-by shootings were predominantly a drug and gang problem, not a gun problem.

"This would be a buyback of legal firearms, not illegal firearms, so it still won't actually stop the firearms in the hands of criminals being utilised," he said.


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