In 1996 Martin Bryant killed 35 people and wounded 23 with a semi-automatic rifle, the third deadliest shooting by a lone gunman in history. After the tragedy, Prime Minister John Howard rolled out a national gun buy-back that took over 700,000 guns out of civilian hands, and introduced the National Firearms Agreement [NFA].

While each state retains its own firearms legislation, the NFA was an agreement between state governments to effectively ban semi-automatic weapons, institute a nationwide firearm registration system, and restrict ownership to specific people such as members of sports shooting clubs, licensed recreational hunters, and primary producers.

Gun control legislation has been under the spotlight recently, with several outspoken advocates in various governments around the country.

Senator David Leyonhjelm advocates for relaxing gun control regulation in Australia.

Source: AAP

Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm recently successfully pushed for an amendment that would allow the rapid-fire A110 shotgun to be imported, which while not semi-automatic and therefore banned, is capable of firing five shoots in quick succession. This was secured in exchange for his support on an unrelated piece of legislation relating to Border Force. Leyonhjelm himself has claimed that he ‘blackmailed’ the government for their support.

But this is only one of a series of amendments to firearm legislation that have been put into place since 1996. Gun control groups are concerned that the current gun laws are being watered down by the well-resourced pro-gun lobby, with 3.2 million firearms now owned in Australia, roughly the same amount as before Port Arthur.

“When you achieve that kind of historic act, there is an obligation from future generations to maintain and improve it,” said David Shoebridge, a Greens MP in the NSW Senate.

Speaking at a luncheon held by Gun Control Australia on September 8, John Howard was adamant that the 1996 NFA should be here to stay.

“I don’t see any need for those laws to be wound back. They have generally worked pretty well,” said Mr. Howard. “It’s a small price to pay.”

“I can’t understand how intelligent people could seriously entertain that proposition that the ready availability of means of self-destruction or the destruction of others doesn’t increase the likelihood of that happening, it just does.”

Walkter Mikac with his wife Annette and his children Madeline and Alana, all three of whom were killed in the Port Arthur massace.

Source: Walkter Mikac

However, gun ownership finds advocates in unlikely places. Walkter Mikac, who lost his wife Nannette and his children Madeline and Alana at Port Arthur, encourages people to own firearms, but draws the line at semi-automatic weapons.

“I fully encourage people to have firearms,” he said. “But we’re not in a warzone; we’re living in a predominately peaceful country. There’s really no argument for those to exist here.”

The Shooters and Fishers Party, formerly the Australian Shooters Party, currently holds a total of five seats across upper houses in New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia. Since their first iteration they have fought against the NFA

“We’re in a situation of massive over regulation and over control,” said Robert Borzak, NSW MP.

“Governments have leaned very heavily on law abiding firearms owners putting some very strict controls in and around what they can own and what they can’t own, where they can use them and what they can use them on.”

Michelle Fernando's sister killed their father while experiencing a psychotic delusion. Her sister was able to shoot at a club without a licence owing to a 2008 amendment.

Source: The Feed

In 2008, an amendment was made in the NSW firearms act to allow people to shoot in a pistol club without a license, after filling out a simple on-the-spot form.

In 2010, a woman, whose family have asked that she remain unnamed, joined such a club, easily concealing that she was mentally ill and in the midst of a psychotic episode.

In August of that year, she was able to smuggle a pistol out of the club and kill her father, who she believed was leading a world-wide conspiracy against her.

“If she hadn’t been allowed to just casually visit a gun club, I think it would’ve been very difficult for her to have obtained a firearm.”

She was later found not guilty by reason of mental illness, and her family subsequently sought damages against her psychiatrist for failing to intervene when she became fascinated with guns, and with the gun club that allowed her to walk out with the weapon and ammunition.

Her sister, Michelle Fernando, is now an advocate for gun control.

“My sister got that firearm very opportunistically,” she said. “If she hadn’t been allowed to just casually visit a gun club, I think it would’ve been very difficult for her to have obtained a firearm.”

She claims that she knows of two suicides and a siege that have occurred since her fathers’ death in relation to firearms from a pistol club.

“I cannot understand why the government still - more than five years later - has done nothing to address this obvious danger in the community,” she said.

Mr. Shoebridge is aware of the Fernardo case and of Michelle’s work.

“This is a woman who has a compelling story to tell about what can go tragically wrong when MPs cave into the gun lobby and water down our gun laws,” said Mr Shoebridge.

Mr Borzak argues that people who have a motive to commit a crime will find a means to do it, and that current laws persecute recreational shooters and treat them as likely future criminals.

How easy is it to get a gun in Australia? The Sydney siege has highlighted questions about gun laws in Australia: How easy is it to buy a gun? Where can they be shot? And, most importantly, how many unregistered guns are there in circulation?

“Laws are only obeyed by law abiding citizens,” he said. “Criminals don’t take any notice of laws, and if they can’t get a firearm they’ll get a knife, if they can’t get a knife they’ll get a petrol bomb and it just goes on and on.”

“I’m not a criminal. Never have been, never will be, and I don’t expect to be treated like one,” he said.

Sam Lee from Gun Control Australia is concerned about the proliferation of firearms, whether or not they are owned by law-abiding citizens.

“To stem the flow of the illegal guns you’ve got to stem the flow of legal guns,” she stated.

With the National Firearms agreement up for review next year, political parties from both sides are pushing for reform, with the Hunters and Shooters Party among them.

“Even if they did tighten them up, what difference would it make in the Lindt Café event?” said Mr Borzak. “None whatsoever.”