Recent statistics reveal the electorate has more than 28,000 registered guns, which is split between 5943 licensed owners.

In the Tamworth regional postcode alone, 2340, there are 16,665 guns between 2827 owners, with an average of 4.83 guns per person. In Walcha we have 699 registered owners, nearly 20 per cent of our population, who share a collection of 3,315 firearms.

The biggest single collection by one owner (excluding collectors) in Tamworth is 122 guns, which is dwarfed by a massive collection in the neighbouring postcode of 2353 – Moonbi  – of 312 guns. Both make the largest number of guns held by one registered owner in Walcha look conservative at only 59.

Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson said the high figure didn’t surprise him, particularly given the region’s rural setting and the nine recreational gun clubs located within the Oxley Local Area Command, which has the most licensed guns of any LAC in the state, at about 16,000.

Mr Anderson said the NSW Firearms Registry would hold a big community forum in Tamworth in the coming weeks, to discuss the range of rules and regulations surrounding gun ownership.

“It’s really important, we need to ensure the licensed gun holders know the rules and regulations – and they do, but there are a lot of people who are new to it as well,” Mr Anderson said.

“They do change, so you do need to understand the different categories, the use of those weapons, the safety of those weapons.

“Quite often landholders will get pinged because they haven’t done the correct safe handling of a weapon, not locking it in a safe, or left the key a little too close to the safe or made it too easily accessible.”

The recent firearm amnesty saw hundreds of illegal guns surrender to police without consequence, with 611 handed in across the Oxley LAC , 400 in Tamworth and 33 in Walcha alone.

Automatic shotguns, long-arm rifles and pistols were all among the haul.

Firearms dealers had also recorded a swell in locals registering firearms, as the amnesty drew to a close.

The Northern Tablelands electorate has 37,191 registered guns between 7715 licensed owners.