STAFF WRITER
NSW will be the first state to take part in the National Gun Buyback Scheme.
The Scheme is in response to reforms announced by the government after the Bondi terrorist attack on December 14 last year.
The gun buyback begins on November 2 and will be run by NSW Police. It will provide compensation to individuals for firearms plus a flat fee for associated ammunition.
Federal and state governments will share the cost of the buyback a 50:50 split.
The scheme will roll out in two phases, here’s what phase 1 looks like:
Phase 1
The NSW Buyback Scheme will include a fixed price schedule for individual licence holders, who are above the new legal limit for their licence, to return their firearms in exchange for fair compensation.
It will also include an initial industry support package to help eligible local businesses and dealers adjust to the new laws, available from November 2.
This package will include:
Up to $25,000 in grants available to eligible businesses and dealers one-off licence fee relief for eligible gun dealers in NSW, worth $500 over two years per dealer.
The State Government estimates up to 274,000 registered firearms – about 24% of the total number of registered firearms in NSW – and about 50,000 licence holders are affected by the new limits on gun ownership and reclassification of some types of firearms. 
Premier Chris Minns said, there are potentially hundreds of thousands of firearms affected by these changes.
“We want those guns handed in, compensated for and safely destroyed,” Mr Minns said.
This Scheme is informed by the Interim Report of the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion’s Recommendations to prioritise efforts to finalise and implement an updated and nationally consistent National Firearms Agreement (Recommendation 13) and the proposed Buyback Scheme (Recommendation 14).
These reforms build on the Commonwealth Government’s Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026 and the NSW’s Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2025, which together include the toughest firearm reforms in a generation.
More information is available here.