‘Won’t prevent the next Bondi’: NSW opposition leader hits out at Labor’s gun buyback scheme

NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloan has condemned the state’s gun buyback as a costly political response that will not prevent another Bondi massacre.

The state is preparing to enforce some of the world’s toughest gun laws, with up to 274,000 firearms expected to be surrendered and destroyed under Australia’s biggest gun buyback in 30 years.

The scheme will compensate licensed owners required to give up firearms because they exceed the new ownership limits or have been reclassified under the reforms.

But Sloane said the reforms were targeting law-abiding firearm owners instead of terrorists and organised criminals.

“We need to be very clear-eyed about who the real enemy is. And it is not law-abiding farmers. It is not law-abiding sporting shooters in our suburbs. It is terrorists. It is terrorism. It is hate. And it is the organised criminals in our cities that are shooting up our streets,” she told Sunrise on Monday.

“Do you really think the organised criminals are going to walk into a cop shop and hand over their weapons? I mean, good luck with that.”

Sloane said Premier Chris Minns was the only state leader to stand with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and support what she described as a “half baked” proposal.

The concerns echo comments from One Nation leader Pauline Hanson on Sunday .

In an interview with News24, Hanson said the people of NSW are not happy with the gun law changes.

Hanson argued many of the firearms affected were more than practical possessions, having been passed through families for generations.

“Those guns that they have, it’s been handed down from dad or grandad, and it’s precious to them; there’s no amount of money that is ever going to replace that,” she said.

“We’re crucifying those legal gun owners here. It wasn’t the guns; it was the people behind the guns who are responsible for the Bondi massacre, let’s make that quite clear.

“These are law-abiding citizens that have lost their guns or are going to lose them.”

Government records show firearm deaths fell by almost 50 per cent in the five years following the 1996 national gun amnesty.