Australia's strongest gun reform since the Port Arthur massacre has become law. Here's what you need to know

"Split off from Labor's omnibus bill on hate speech and vilification, the new guns laws establish a national buy-back, coordinated by the federal government and to be run in cooperation with the states. Tighter rules will stop the importation of a range of firearms, as well as limiting importation of belt-fed ammunition, magazines of more than 30 rounds, silencers and speed loaders. Open-ended import permits will be abolished."

"Background checks for gun owners will become more rigorous and more frequent, with better information sharing between governments and security agencies. It will be an offence to use a carriage service to access material on the manufacture or modification of guns and accessories, as well as other explosives or lethal devices. The bill allows for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) to provide intelligence for background checks, run by AusCheck. An individual's citizenship status will also be confirmed."

"As of December, there were more than 4.1m registered firearms in Australia, more than at any time since Port Arthur in 1996, in which 35 people were killed. At least 2,000 new guns are lawfully bought every week. With more than 1.15m firearms, NSW has the most guns of any jurisdiction, ahead of Queensland (1.14m) and Victoria (974,000). The ACT has the fewest guns and the fewest licences of any jurisdiction."

Parliament passed major changes to national gun laws, creating a federally coordinated buy-back run with state cooperation. The reforms ban importation of a range of firearms and restrict belt-fed ammunition, magazines over 30 rounds, silencers, speed loaders and open-ended import permits. Background checks for licence holders will become more rigorous and frequent, with improved information sharing among governments, ASIO and the ACIC supplying intelligence via AusCheck, and confirmation of citizenship status. It will be an offence to use a carriage service to access material on manufacture or modification of guns, accessories, explosives or lethal devices. States and territories agreed further complementary changes.

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