Almost 700 guns were surrendered in Melbourne’s north-west in the last month of Victoria’s “most effective” firearm amnesty in more than a decade.
This comes on top of 269 firearms that were turned in across the north-west of Melbourne, stretching from the CBD to Whittlesea, in the first two months of the National Firearm Amnesty.
A late influx of surrendered firearms in the closing weeks resulted in more than 9000 firearms handed in across Victoria.
The three-month amnesty, which ran from July to September, was aimed at reducing the risk of firearms and weapons falling into the wrong hands by allowing members of the public to surrender firearms without fear of prosecution.
Licensing and regulation division’s Superintendent Paul Millett said 9175 firearms, 151 weapons and 103 firearm parts were surrendered in Victoria, representing “the most effective amnesty this state has seen for more than a decade”.
“More than 98 per cent of the firearms surrendered during the amnesty had not previously been registered in Victoria so the amnesty was able to put them on the radar,” Superintendent Millett said.
Melbourne’s north-west region collected a total of 958 rifles, shotguns and handguns.
But this number was the lowest across Melbourne, with 3416 firearms surrendered in the western region, 3701 firearms in the east, and 1056 firearms in the south.
While the national amnesty is over, police continue to encourage anyone with unwanted weapons to contact their local police station to arrange a surrender.
