No plans to change gun laws: Keenan

There are no plans to change Australia's gun control laws, despite the man responsible for implementing them saying they should be strengthened.

Former prime minister John Howard, who introduced the laws 20 years ago after the Port Arthur massacre, told the son of NSW police employee Curtis Cheng that the current gun laws were inadequate.

Alpha Cheng, whose father was last year shot and killed by radicalised teenager Farhad Khalil Mohammad Jabar, asked Mr Howard on SBS' Insight program on Tuesday night: "Are our gun laws adequate in protecting us?"

Mr Howard replied: "Almost certainly the answer to that question is no, the laws are not adequate."

He went on to say he was "wholly against" any watering down of the existing laws.

"I would encourage sensible strengthening of the existing laws," he said.

When questioned about Mr Howard's comments on Wednesday, Justice Minister Michael Keenan denied the former prime minister suggested current gun laws were inadequate.

"I saw the former prime minister's comments and he didn't say that," he said in Brisbane on Wednesday.

"The gun laws that we have in place at the moment are the gun laws that he very courageously put in place in 1996 in conjunction with the state and territories."

Mr Keenan said the federal government would do everything in its power to ensure the current National Firearms Agreement remained in place.

"There's no plans to change what has been a very successful gun control agreement in Australia," he said.

But he did say he planned to discuss with state and territory counterparts the possibility of another gun amnesty.

"If it was required, we would look at that," he said.

Mr Keenan said the fact 15-year-old Jabar was able to gain access to a gun didn't mean there were problems with the country's gun control laws.

"What that demonstrates is there are a large number of illegal firearms in Australia - that was an illegal gun that was used in that case," he said.

Mr Keenan said the government wanted to crack down on the illegal market by enforcing mandatory sentencing for gun smugglers, but its legislation was blocked in the Senate.