I don't know why this museum initially chose to destroy rather than sell off their "foreign" arms collection. However, Australian regulators and politicians are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to restrict ownership of any form of weapon by its citizens. There is a belief that tight control of ownership of weapons will restrict violent acts.
Unfortunately, violence plays out anyway. The most recent efforts to limit ownership of weapons has been a poorly crafted law in the State if Victoria that prohibits ownership of "machetes" unless one has a permit for such a weapon. The legal definition of a machete is so broad that it encompasses any large knife made at any time.
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