SOUTHERN Downs gun owners will have a chance to make our region a safer place when a three-month national firearm amnesty begins next month.

The amnesty will be the first national effort since 1996, in the wake of the Port Arthur Massacre, and will target an estimated 260,000 illegal or unregistered firearms in the country.

Queensland has held several amnesties in past years, the most recent being in early 2013 when more than 19,000 illegal weapons were handed in.

In 2004 more than 10,000 weapons were netted.

Among these were a rocket launcher, flame thrower, tasers, crossbows and Second World War firearms.

Warwick Police officer- in-charge Jamie Deacon said the amnesty would help protect the community.

"Just recently and very close to home, policeman Brett Forte was killed by an illegal firearm,” Senior Sergeant Deacon said.

"This is completely unacceptable and we must remove these weapons from the community.

"The whole point is we don't know exactly how many illegal firearms are out there and that's a problem but we're certain there could be many on the Southern Downs.

"That's the general consensus everywhere and our region wouldn't be any different.

"That could be for many reasons, apathy for example, the registered owner of the weapon has passed away and family members couldn't be bothered or don't know what to do with the weapon.”

Snr Sgt Deacon said traceability was important when it came to weapons.

"If a house or farm is burgled and illegal firearms are stolen then, more often than not we aren't told because the homeowners are afraid they'll get in trouble,” he said.

"If weapons are properly registered then they can be traced. This amnesty is the opportunity for people to bring in unlawful weapons with no questions asked.”

Licensed firearm instructor and dealer Ross Bartley said the idea was to regulate the movement of firearms.

"It's not so much about getting guns off the streets as much as it is getting unknown and illegal weapons into the system so they can be traced and tracked,” he said.

"This amnesty is about encouraging people to be responsible.

"Unregistered weapons could pose a big threat if in the wrong hands and, with very stiff penalties for anyone caught with unregistered firearms, it's in everybody's best interests that all firearms are registered.”

For information about how and where to surrender firearms, phone 1800909826.

THE National Firearms Amnesty will operate for a period of three months, from July 1 until September 30.

Any person will have the ability to register or surrender unregistered firearms to a firearms dealer or police station without fear of prosecution.

During the amnesty, costs associated with registering a firearm will be waived, meaning people who wish to register unregistered weapons will not be charged a permit to acquire fee to register the unregistered firearms.

In Queensland, there are four options for surrendering or registering unregistered firearms.

These are:

Register the firearm to an existing firearms licence (subject to categories and conditions of the licence);

Surrender the firearm at a firearms dealer for commercial sale;

Surrender the firearm at a firearms dealer or police station for safekeeping, pending the issue of a firearms licence; or

Surrender firearm at a firearms dealer or police station for destruction.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission estimates there are more than 260,000 firearms in Australia's illicit firearms market.

The use and movement of illicit firearms is a national problem that affects the safety of communities.

Australian governments have agreed to hold a national amnesty to reduce the number of unregistered firearms and to improve public safety.

There is no limit to the number of items you can hand in during the amnesty.

People who wish to register a firearm to a licence must hold a firearms licence. The amnesty provides protection from prosecution where a person is in possession of unregistered firearms or firearm-related articles for the purpose of handing those articles in (for sale, registration or destruction) under state and territory amnesty arrangements.