An American woman was arrested at Sydney airport after arriving on a flight from Los Angeles with a 24-carat gold-plated handgun found in her luggage. The 28-year-old woman did not have a permit to import or possess a firearm in Australia, where gun ownership is tightly regulated. It is illegal to intentionally import firearms without prior approval, and the maximum penalty for this offense is 10 years’ imprisonment.
The woman, who has not been identified, appeared in court and received bail, but her continued stay in Australia is subject to the courts. Depending on the outcome, she could be removed from the country. The Australian Border Force (ABF) praised the diligence of its officers and the sophistication of the country’s detection technology in detecting the illegal weapon.
Australia is often cited as an example of how decisive gun control measures can succeed in reducing deaths from firearms. The country implemented sweeping gun-control measures after a lone shooter killed 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania in April 1996. Rapid-fire rifles and shotguns were banned, gun owner licensing was tightened, and remaining firearms were registered to uniform national standards alongside a successful nationwide buy-back and amnesty scheme.
In contrast, gun violence has reached record levels in the United States, where civilian firearms outnumber people. According to the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey (SAS), there are approximately 14 guns for every 100 people in Australia, compared to 120 per 100 in the US. The US also has more deaths from gun violence than any other developed country per capita. The rate in the US is eight times higher than in Canada, 22 times higher than in the European Union, and 23 times greater than in Australia, according to Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) data from 2019.