Following the tragic Port Arthur Massacre, Prime Minister John Howard's government initiated a comprehensive national gun buy-back scheme.
The program compulsorily acquired over 640,000 firearms, including newly prohibited semi-automatic rifles and shotguns, marking a significant moment in Australian gun control policy.
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The Port Arthur massacre was a mass shooting that occurred on 28 April 1996 at Port Arthur, a tourist town in the Australian state of Tasmania.
The perpetrator, Martin Bryant, killed 35 people and wounded 23 others, the deadliest massacre in modern Australian history. The attack led to fundamental changes in Australia's gun laws.