In a small courtroom in Lismore in northern New South Wales in June, a senior firearms registry official gave evidence of a disturbing gap in Australia’s gun control laws. The court was exploring the circumstances of a murder-suicide, in which a father, Wayne Smith, shot dead his 15-year-old son, Noah, before turning the gun on himself.
Smith was licensed to own a firearm because he had told authorities he was going to use it for recreational hunting, one of a handful of genuine reasons used to possess guns across most jurisdictions.
