Australians give up 51,000 illegal firearms as 3-month amnesty ends

Australians turned in 51,000 illegal firearms, ranging from 19th-century weapons to a rocket launcher, during a three-month amnesty that ended on Friday, Reuters reported. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the move had helped avert Las Vegas-style mass shootings. The cache represents about a fifth of illegal firearms and will be destroyed. It was Australia’s second amnesty since its worst-ever massacre, when a lone gunman killed 35 people in the island state of Tasmania in 1996. Those who still own such guns face jail time, and the government is pushing for harsher penalties for gun traffickers.