Amnesty begins for unlicensed guns in WA GUN owners in Western Australia with unlicensed firearms have three months to hand them in without facing charges. The state government launched a firearms amnesty on Thursday and will run the program until the end of October. As long as the firearms have not been stolen or used in criminal activities, people will be immune from prosecution. Police Minister Liza Harvey said it was the first amnesty in WA since 2006. "This is the time to act because, outside the amnesty, people caught with an unlicensed firearm could face a three-year jail term or a $12,000 fine," she said. Anyone with guns, parts, accessories and ammunition can hand them in to their local police station. Ms Harvey said WA's firearms licensing branch destroyed about 600 guns a month. Most were repossessed because they were not licensed, or storage facilities did not meet licensing requirements, she said. A recent report by the auditor-general identified almost 1000 firearms that had not been recovered from deceased estates. "Often in these cases, families aren't aware that guns they have unintentionally acquired are not licensed or not appropriately stored," Ms Harvey said.