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Resolve founder Jim Reed said it was clear Australians wanted action on gun control.
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“There’s strong support for a raft of measures to tighten gun control, which reflects the want to do something, anything, to make access to such deadly weapons more difficult,” he said.
“Many thought machete crime was the worst thing we could face because guns were assumed to be rare. The simple question many Australians are asking is why people in our cities need a gun at all, let alone an armoury of firearms.”
The poll also showed people thought access to guns (35 per cent) was one of the top priorities for the federal government in the wake of the Bondi attack, with preventing terrorism (49 per cent) and tackling crime (45 per cent) the two options with a higher priority.
Governments are considering a string of changes to gun laws. The Resolve poll found that across five separate gun law changes, there was overwhelming support for each one.
The lowest support, at 72 per cent, was to restrict gun licences to Australian citizens, with 11 per cent opposed to the move.
Most support was for the creation of a national firearms database, with 83 per cent of those surveyed backing the move. Just 3 per cent of those surveyed were opposed to the database.
A national register was agreed upon by states and territories in 2023, with it expected to be in place by 2028. It is now being “fast-tracked”.
Eighty-one per cent of respondents agreed that there should be time limits attached to gun licences so that people have to reapply on a regular basis, while the same number agreed there should be tougher regulations on high-powered guns.
The second most supported proposal, at 82 per cent, was a limit on the number of guns an individual can own. Just 5 per cent of respondents opposed such a proposal.
Federal Nationals leader David Littleproud on Monday backed the state party’s decision to oppose the Minns’ government gun reforms, arguing the country did not have a gun problem but an “Islamic extremist” one.
“While we support measures to strengthen hate speech laws, this issue should not be conflated with law-abiding gun ownership,” he said.
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“Conflating the issues is offensive to the thousands of law-abiding, honest firearm users and a disgraceful smokescreen for government failure.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refused to be drawn on the Nationals’ opposition to gun reforms, instead drawing on their former party leader Tim Fischer and his role in backing John Howard’s changes to firearm ownership in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.
“One of the things that happened there was that not just John Howard took action as prime minister, and he deserves credit for that, so too does Tim Fisher, who was at the time the leader of the National Party,” he said.
“But so too does Kim Beazley, who offered that bipartisan support. The parliament came together. That’s what Australians wanted to see then, and it’s what Australians want [now].”
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