Riverina residents surrendered 100 firearms and firearms-related items to police and dealers during the 2018 National Firearms Amnesty.
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They form part of the more than 8300 guns surrendered across NSW during the 2018 Firearms Amnesty in July–September.
These include 413 shotguns and 1373 rifles, as well as more than 74,000 rounds of ammunition, 56 prohibited weapons and 338 firearm parts and accessories.
Across the state, the top five districts where firearms were surrendered to police were as follow:
- Murray River Police District: 128
- Oxley Police District: 93
- The Hume Police District: 88
- Mid North Coast Police District: 79
- Lake Illawarra Police District: 70
Firearms handed in included a replica colt AR-15 machine gun, .36 colt 1851 navy six chamber percussion revolver and eight .303 Lee Enfield bolt action repeater rifles.
The initiative encouraged residents to legally dispose unregistered firearms or firearm-related items without penalty.
It follows the success of the national campaign in 2017, aimed at reducing unregistered and unwanted firearms in the community.
Metropolitan Field Operations Deputy Commissioner Jeff Loy said the community demonstrated it did not want firearms falling into the wrong hands and putting lives at risk.
“There has been a really strong response across the state and it is encouraging to see community members recognising the danger posed by these weapons and doing the right thing by handing them in or having them registered,” Deputy Commissioner Loy said.
Minister for Police Troy Grant said “we are absolutely focused on doing everything we can to keep people safe”.
“It is of course concerning that these potentially dangerous weapons were once on our streets; however, at the same time, I commend the community for helping us remove them and to ultimately make our neighbourhoods safer,” Minister Grant said.
Anyone who has not registered or disposed of a firearm or firearm-related parts during the amnesty could now face a hefty penalty.
During the amnesty more than 250 dealers participated and are expected to hand over firearms submitted to them by mid-November.
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