Gun imports overshoot costly buyback

ONE hundred thousand firearms have been imported in the past three years, outstripping the number destroyed in a $60 million taxpayer-funded handgun buyback scheme.

Despite a $21 million handgun buyback in Victoria, which saw 18,814 weapons destroyed last year, figures obtained by The Australian reveal Victorians legally imported 15,184 firearms during the same period.

SNIP

Opposition Customs spokesman Mark Bishop warned that it was "dead easy" to get guns, with poor security at ports a weak link in the nation's defence against illegal firearms.

"Less than 3 per cent of containers are inspected by customs and the waterfront is wide open to illegal firearms imports," Senator Bishop said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9264686%255E421,00.html

Possibly the same scummy US gun industry that keeps peddling that phony Australian bloodbath story.

"However, a detailed breakdown of who is buying the guns was unavailable yesterday, so it was not known whether the guns had been imported by recreational shooters, law enforcement agencies or the armed forces.
About 65,000 guns were handed in last year to the national handgun buyback scheme, which offered owners an estimated $60 million in compensation.
Owners were paid up to $7350 to hand in their firearms, with most getting between $500 and $2000 for the most popular guns.
The ban on handguns with a calibre above .38 and limits on barrel length followed the shooting of two students by a licensed gun owner at Monash University in October 2002. "

some welcomed foreign currency. nice to see one sector of domestic manufacturing industry is able to compete in the world market.