The Queensland Government’s gun amnesty has come to a successful end with latest figures revealing almost nine-thousand firearms collected.

Two-thousand of these were destroyed and more than six-thousand were registered.

Anna Wall reports.

TRANSCRIPT

The three-month-long program was a success according to the Minister who hopes it’ll make Queensland’s streets safer.

Jack Dempsey, Minister for Police and Community Safety: “That’s 8800 firearms that no longer have the capacity to bring grief and suffering onto the streets of Queensland.”

The President of the Queensland Shooters Union says the majority of people handing the firearms in are ones who were not using them incorrectly in the first place.

Graham Park, President of Queensland Shooters Union: “There’s a lot of firearms out there that are not registered but they are not being misused and if they would just reduce the paperwork and clean it up those would then come into the system and everything would tidy up.”

Crimestoppers CEO agrees saying a lot of work is still needed.

Trevor O’Hara, Crimestoppers CEO: “The bad guys have still got the weapons, the criminals, and we need to get them out of their hands.”

Approximately 35,000 new firearms are sold across Queensland every year. However successful the gun amnesty has been there are grave concerns for the 500 firearms that go missing on an annual basis.

Trevor O’Hara, Crimestoppers CEO: “That immediately makes them an illegal weapon and therefore out in the public in the community for someone to use potentially for a crime.”

Crimestoppers has launched a new campaign called 3,2,1, a website and hotline which urges the Queensland public to notify them of any remaining illegal weapons.

It says all tip offs will remain anonymous and urges people to come forward with any information.

Anna Wall, QUT News.