AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
Firearms – Amnesty Declaration 2002
Notifiable Instrument NI2002 –397
made under the
Firearms Act 1996, section 13(1)

UNDER section 13 of the Firearms Act 1996 (the Act) I DECLARE an amnesty period of three months for the unauthorised possession of firearms in residential premises which are not stored in accordance with the prescribed firearms storage requirements set out under Part 5 of the Act.

The amnesty period will commence at 9.00 am on Saturday, 1 February 2003 and cease at 5.00 pm on Wednesday, 30 April 2003.

During the amnesty period, a licensed firearm owner who is found to be in breach of the prescribed firearms storage requirements does not commit an offence if that person surrenders all registered firearms to the police and rectifies the breach within thirty days to the satisfaction of the Registrar of Firearms, or an officer delegated by the Registrar of Firearms for this purpose.  Return of the surrendered firearms to the owner will be conditional on these requirements being met.

This amnesty does not apply to any other breaches of the Firearms Act 1996.

Ted Quinlan
Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Corrections
16 December 2002