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IN PHOTO: Rifles are displayed in the exhibition hall of the "Zastava Arms" weapons factory in the Serbian town of Kragujevac, some 137km (85 miles) from capital Belgrade, May 8, 2013. Now, knocking on the door of the European Union, one industry in Serbia is leading the way where others have been ravaged by a painful transition to capitalism: guns. Serbia is clawing back old markets for its weapons and ammunition in Africa and the Middle East and former arch foe the U.S., which led the 1999 NATO air war against Slobodan Milosevic. In a country of 25 percent unemployment, weapons producers are adding workers year after year with the value of export contracts now pushing $300 million annually, according to state weapons' exporter Yugoimport-SDPR. Picture taken May 8, 2013. REUTERS/Marko Djurica

NSW shows a 10 percent increase in gun ownership over the past five years, which means one gun is now registered for every nine residents. It is estimated there are close to 3 million registered guns across Australia.

Since 2010, the most affluent areas in Sydney, such as Neutral Bay, Pyrmont and Sydney's CBD, have witnessed more than 60 percent growth in gun ownership. More than 850,000 firearms are now legally registered in NSW. During the same period in Newcastle, number of people with a firearms licence increased about 81 percent. Alarmingly, in 22 of the state's 600 postcodes, registered guns outnumber people.

NSW Police Firearms Commander Mick Plotecki suggested that the spread of the popular U.S. gun culture, along with the hiring of people at different gun clubs,might be the reason behind the surge. According to figures obtained by the Greens under freedom of information laws, Liverpool has 4,689 registered guns, which is believed to be the highest. It is followed by Chester Hills with 4,505 registered guns, then Horsley Park with 4,442 and Bexley with 4,239.

NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge said that the prohibition of gun buyback program has hardly changed anything for the better. Instead, gun ownership has increased largely. "Many people will be quite rightly shocked to find there are many hundreds if not thousands of guns in their suburb," he added. Although he believed that legally many farmers and primary producers have to the right to own a gun yet, the rise of gun ownership by such a huge percent couldn’t be linked to this.

In regional postcodes, highest is 14,757 in Dubbo, 14,542 in Tamworth and 14,253 in Bathurst. South west of Greater Sydney has recorded the largest growth in gun ownership which is also the site of numerous shootings over successive years.

To restrict the gun ownership, the Greens is set to ban the imports rapid-fire shotgun to Australia this month. "This is a rapid-fire firearm which fires and reloads quickly, allowing eight shots in eight seconds. Despite this, the NSW Government intends to classify it as the least restricted kind of weapon," Shoebridge said.

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