The United States should adopt Australia's gun laws, Defence Minister Christopher Pyne says.
Mr Pyne says there's "absolutely no appetite" for Australia's laws to be changed, after two senior One Nation officials were filmed talking about asking the American gun lobby for $US20 million to weaken the nation's firearm restrictions.
The defence minister also said Australia would be willing to help New Zealand strengthen its gun laws in the wake of a mass shooting where 50 people were killed at two mosques.
"And I wish other countries, like the United States, would adopt our gun laws because I think it would be better for all of the people in our communities," Mr Pyne told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.
"Whether Christchurch had occurred or not, there's absolutely no appetite in the public sector and the public policy sector for there to be any change to our gun laws."
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia's gun laws were one of the coalition's proudest achievements.
"We cannot allow it to be compromised or sliced away. That's not something we can have," he told reporters in Perth.
A new report from Gun Control Australia and The Australia Institute, released on Thursday, shows there were more guns in Australia in 2017 than before the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, despite an overall drop in the number of people engaged in sport shooting and hunting.
There were 3.6 million firearms reported across the country in 2017, or an average of almost four guns per owner.
Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus said there had been a small weakening in the position of gun laws Mr Howard achieved.
"I think we need to do everything in our power to reduce the number of guns in the Australian community," he told reporters in Melbourne.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale says gun laws differ state to state, despite the national firearms agreement aiming to provide consistency.
"It's a good agreement but it's not being adhered to, we need to enforce it," he told ABC Radio National.
