[slumber1]

I thought private ownership of firearms was pretty much banned in Australia. So how does this guy have a gun of any kind, much less one of those evil combat assault rifles?

[tanknetter]

My first thought as well - haven’t we been told that the Aussies have a wildly successful gun ban???

[naturalman1975]

As far as I can tell this is a hoax story. I live in Melbourne, and have heard nothing about it, and would have expected it to be a major news story - shootings are rare enough here that they always get on the news.

Having said that, though, just to correct a common misconception, no, guns are not banned in Australia. This is the website of my local gun shop.

You have to be licenced, and licences for more than basic non-semi-automatic rifles and shotguns are harder to get than basic gun licences, and we do have universal registration, along with a lot of other petty rules, but the idea that there is a ban is a myth pushed my certain groups and part of the media, especially in the US.

Owning an AR would require a higher level licence - possible, but it takes some work.