National Gun Register now urgent say Greens

Port Arthur church

The 2017 update of the National Firearms Agreement required a nationwide approach to registering firearms with a national information sharing hub at its centre.

Despite the agreement, the Liberal National party in both the Federal parliament and states such as Queensland and NSW has failed to act because of pressure from the gun lobby in its ranks and pro-gun MPs in Shooters parties and One Nation.

The Commonwealth Parliament must take immediate action and legislate for a national gun register.

Greens Federal Gun Control spokesperson Lee Rhiannon said:

"The 2017 Agreement is now almost a year old and because of pressure from the gun lobby PM Turnbull has failed to act on a national firearms register.

"We need MPs with courage who can stare down the gun lobby and put community safety first. Unfortunately there is precious little courage or principle to spare in the Federal Parliament.

"With the looming threat of a Queensland LNP and One Nation coalition seizing control after the Qld state election our national firearms laws have never been under more threat.

"If any one state such as Queensland dismantled its firearms registry then the whole nation will be at risk as hundreds of thousands of firearms disappear of the radar.

"State and Federal police needs to know where guns are so that they can check in safe storage and remove them if needed following incidents of domestic violence or other criminal offences.

"It is utterly unacceptable that police might in the future face a situation of entering a house to deal with domestic violence and not know if guns are present in the home. This is a real matter of life and death.

"To protect the community from a potential surge of unregistered guns moving across state borders we need action on a national register that can't be torn down by a state government behaving badly.

"Whether it is addressing domestic violence or cracking down on the illegal gun trade by organised crime, we must have a national database to know where the guns are.

"There has already been too much delay and the Prime Minister must be held to account and forced to introduce a national register before the year is out," Ms Rhiannon said.