Australians hand in 57,000 firearms during gun amnesty Canberra, March 1 (IANS): At least 57,000 illegal firearms were handed in during the three-month national gun amnesty period in Australia, which would help prevent their use in terrorist acts, official sources said on Thursday. The national gun amnesty, from July 1 to September 30, 2017, was the first of its kind since 1996, when 35 people were shot dead in Port Arthur, Tasmania, reports Efe news. Minister for Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity Angus Taylor said the results exceeded his expectations and added that almost 2,500 of the total firearms delivered were semi-automatic or fully-automatic. About a third of the total weapons, most of them rifles, were destroyed. This was the first nationwide campaign on illegal firearms since the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, which left 35 people dead in 1996, prompting purchases of almost 700,000 illegal weapons as part of the gun control laws enacted after the tragedy. After the Port Arthur incident, the Australian Government approved the current National Firearm Agreement, which regulates gun control in the country through a firearm-licensing system and prohibits the sale of all automatic and semi-automatic weapons. Due to this law, the number of gun-related crimes in Australia has shrunk considerably. Walmart raises age limit on gun sales to 21 Washington, March 1 (IANS): US retail giant Walmart has raised the age restriction for purchases of firearms and ammunition in its stores to 21. In addition to raising the minimum age, Walmart on Wednesday announced that, “in light of recent events”, that it was removing items “resembling assault-style rifles” from its website, including “airsoft guns and toys”, reports Efe news. In 2015, Walmart stopped selling assault rifles such as the popular AR-15, a model that has been used in several mass shootings, including the February 14 massacre at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead. The company said it does not sell handguns, except for in Alaska. “Our heritage as a company has always been in serving sportsmen and hunters, and we will continue to do so in a responsible way,” Walmart said in a statement. The decision came on the same day that Dick’s Sporting Goods, the largest sports retailer in the country, announced that it had removed assault rifles from its stores. Dick’s Sporting Goods also raised the age to buy weapons to 21. “We’re staunch supporters of the Second Amendment. I’m a gun owner myself. We don’t want to be a part of this story and we have eliminated these guns permanently,” said Edward Stack, the company’s chief executive.
