Australian gun amnesty to allow surrender of illegal firearms from July

Gun owners across Australia will be asked to surrender illicit firearms without fear of prosecution in the first national gun amnesty for more than 20 years.

The three-month amnesty will start from July 1 and will grant immunity from prosecution but not include a buyback, unlike the action the federal government took in 1996 in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre.

"This is as much about giving families a chance to get rid of an old heirloom as it is about getting rid of guns off our streets," Justice Minister Michael Keenan said.