A WWII-era M1 Carbine rifle, not required to be registered before Australia’s 1996 gun reforms, has become the focus of investigations into the Croydon Park shooting, in which three people were injured.
Police say 60-year-old Artemios Mintzas, a Sydney Trains employee, allegedly fired multiple rounds from his apartment using the semi-automatic weapon, which he had legally owned since the 1980s but kept after his licence expired in 1992.
NSW Police confirmed the rifle’s pre-1996 exemption and said enforcement campaigns and firearm amnesties have since tightened controls.
Police Minister Yasmin Catley said the case highlights the need for a National Firearms Register to modernise tracking systems.
Mintzas faces 18 counts of shooting with intent to murder and remains in custody ahead of his next court appearance on December 3.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
