The Australian Institute of Criminology's National Firearms Theft Monitoring Program was established in 2006 to examine all incidents of firearms theft reported to police. In the program's first annual report, for 2004-05, almost 1,500 firearms, or less than 0.1 of one percent of all registered firearms, were reported as stolen in 668 incidents (Borzycki & Mouzos 2007). This represents a downward trend since earlier research (Mouzos 2002). The figure below shows the majority of rifles (80%), shotguns (82%) and handguns (60%) were stolen from private residential premises. A sizeable minority of handguns (31%) were stolen from business and commercial locations.
Firearms stolen in Australia, by type and location, 2004–05 (percent) [see attached PDF for graph]
References
- Borzycki M & Mouzos J 2007. Firearms theft in Australia 2004-05. Research and public policy series no. 73. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
- Mouzos J 2002. Firearms theft in Australia. Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 230. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.