Australia’s PM proposes tougher gun laws after Sydney mass shooting

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on December 15 proposed tougher national gun laws following a mass shooting that targeted a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, killing at least 16 people.

Albanese said his government would seek new restrictions, including limits on the number of firearms a licensed gun owner can obtain. The announcement came after authorities revealed that the older of the two gunmen — a father and son — had legally held a gun license for about a decade and had accumulated six firearms, Caliber.Az reports via AP. 

“The government is prepared to take whatever action is necessary. Included in that is the need for tougher gun laws,” Albanese told reporters.

The attack occurred on December 14, when the two shooters opened fire indiscriminately during beachfront festivities. At least 40 people were being treated in hospitals following the massacre. Among the dead were a 10-year-old girl, a rabbi, and a Holocaust survivor.

The shooting at one of Australia’s most popular beaches was the country’s deadliest mass shooting in nearly three decades, despite Australia’s strict gun control laws, which were largely designed to remove rapid-fire weapons from civilian circulation. Albanese described the attack as an act of antisemitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation.

The prime minister said he would move quickly, planning to present his proposals to a national cabinet meeting involving state and territory leaders. Some of the proposed measures would require changes to state legislation.

“Some laws are commonwealth and some laws are implemented by the states,” Albanese said. “What we want to do is to make sure that we’re all completely on the same page.”

New South Wales Premier Christopher Minns backed the prime minister’s position, agreeing that gun licenses should not be granted indefinitely. While he did not outline specific measures, Minns said state laws would change

Australia’s gun laws were last significantly overhauled following the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, when a lone gunman killed 35 people, leading to some of the strictest firearms regulations in the world.

By Sabina Mammadli