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Frequently asked questions
NSW gun buyback & illegal guns: your questions answered
The facts on the buyback, its cost, the amnesty and the illegal firearms the new laws don't touch. Every figure is sourced on our sources page.
What is the NSW gun buyback?
It's a government scheme to buy and destroy legally owned firearms after NSW Parliament passed new firearms laws in December 2025, following the Bondi attack. The reforms include a cap of four firearms for most licence holders.
The NSW Government expects the buyback to take around 274,000 legally registered firearms from about 50,000 licence holders. It is part of a national buyback, with states and territories running collection and payments.
Does the buyback target illegal guns?
No. Asked at Budget Estimates how many unregistered or illegal firearms the buyback would take off the streets, Premier Chris Minns said: “This is a program not designed for illegal weapons. This is lawful weapons in the community.”
The firearms in the buyback are already registered to licensed owners, who must by law store them securely.
How much will the NSW gun buyback cost?
The Premier has said it will cost “hundreds of millions of dollars” and called it “a price worth paying”. An estimate by Tulipwood Economics for the Sporting Shooters Association (SIFA) and Shooters Union put NSW compensation at up to $950M if just 20% of legal firearms are surrendered. That estimate was commissioned by industry groups.
How many illegal guns are there in Australia?
The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) estimates there are more than 260,000+ illicit firearms in Australia: about 250,000 long arms and 10,000 handguns. Many are “grey market” long arms that were never registered or handed in after 1996. They are in illegal circulation, in our community: no owner on record, no serial to trace. The ACIC also flags 3D-printed firearms as an emerging risk.
Because these guns are unregistered, nobody can say how many are in a particular suburb or electorate.
Are registered guns used in most gun crime?
Research doesn't support that. The Australian Institute of Criminology found 90.6% of firearms used in homicide were not registered to the offender (Trends & Issues No. 151).
What is the NSW permanent firearms amnesty?
Since 1 July 2021, NSW has had a permanent firearms amnesty. People can hand in unwanted or unregistered firearms without penalty, most commonly through a licensed firearms dealer, or at a police station.
Most amnesty firearms go through dealers: dealers took in 74% of amnesty hand-ins in January to June 2026, and 13,704 firearms since the amnesty began. Dealers provide this service to the community and police for free.
Can I hand in an unregistered firearm in NSW?
Yes. Under the permanent amnesty you can hand in an unregistered or unwanted firearm without penalty. Call a licensed firearms dealer or your local police station first to arrange it, and follow their instructions for transporting the firearm safely.
Always check the current conditions with the NSW Police Force Firearms Registry before you go. This page is general information, not legal advice.
Why are amnesty hand-ins falling?
NSW Police Firearms Registry data shows 824 firearms handed in from January to June 2026, down from 1,200 in the same months of 2025. That's a fall of 31%, and it was down in every month.
In our survey of NSW dealers, 40.9% said they can no longer provide amnesty services and another 13.6% expect to stop within one to three months. If dealer amnesty hand-ins fall in line with that, we project amnesty hand-ins could be down around 68% by January to June 2027. See the method.
How many people have been killed in Sydney's gangland shootings?
ABC News reported in September 2026 that police link 41 murders to Sydney's underworld violence since 2020. 8 people have been murdered in mistaken-identity cases since 2021, or 14 counting family members and bystanders. Taskforce Falcon has made more than 800 arrests linked to organised crime networks in the past year.
Do you track me when I enter my postcode?
We count how many times each postcode is looked up, and that is all. There is no cookie, no login, and we do not record your IP address, your name or your location. The four-digit postcode you type is stored with a random number that lasts only as long as the browser tab, so we can tell one person looking up ten postcodes apart from ten people looking up one.
We do it so we can see which parts of NSW are paying attention. The totals are published in aggregate; there is nothing in them that could identify you.
What can I do?
Contact your local state MP. Tell them the new laws target law-abiding licence holders instead of the illegal guns used by organised crime, and ask what they'll do to fix them.
Find your MP by postcode. Every electorate page has a ready-to-send email you can personalise.