Australians have been shocked by the news two police officers were killed in rural Victoria when a 56-year-old man allegedly shot them before fleeing into the bush.

Another police officer was injured during the incident, which sparked fresh debate about Australia’s gun laws and who owns firearms.

It may come as a shock to learn there are more guns in Australia now than there were before the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.

That event led to sweeping changes to gun laws and significant restrictions on gun ownership.

It seems counter-intuitive that – against a background of measures that were meant to curb gun ownership and a landscape in which legislation has become consistently tighter – we now have more guns.

Although reliable pre-1996 statistics are not available, piecemeal data from that time suggests there were roughly three million firearms owned before the Port Arthur massacre.

That number now exceeds four million, according to estimates based on state and territory information.

And it is not just gun numbers on the rise but the number of people who are licensed to own them.

Again, pre-1996 figures are not available and not all states release historic or current information.........

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