Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese proposed stricter national gun laws on Monday, following a mass shooting that killed at least 15 people during a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
He said that he would suggest more restrictions on gun laws, such as a cap on the quantity of firearms that a licensed owner may acquire. His proposals were announced after it was discovered by the authorities that the older of the two gunmen, a father and son, had obtained his six firearms lawfully and had a weapons license for 10 years.
“The government is prepared to take whatever action is necessary. Included in that is the need for tougher gun laws. People’s circumstances can change. People can be radicalised over a period of time. Licenses should not be in perpetuity,” Albanese said while speaking to reporters.
On Sunday, when the two gunmen opened fire randomly on the beachside celebrations, at least 38 people were receiving medical attention in hospitals. A 10-year-old child, a rabbi, and a Holocaust survivor were among those killed in the massacre.
Australia has strict gun laws
The massacre at Australia’s most popular beach was the bloodiest shooting in nearly 30 years in a nation with stringent gun control legislation that mainly sought to remove rapid-fire guns. The prime minister said that the mass shooting was an act of antisemitic terrorism that affected the core of the country.
He promised quick change, intending to deliver his proposed gun laws at a national cabinet meeting with state leaders on Monday afternoon. State legislation would also be necessary for some of the changes.
“Some laws are commonwealth and some laws are implemented by the states. What we want to do is to make sure that we’re all completely on the same page,” Albanese said.
The premier of New South Wales, where Sydney serves as the state capital, Christopher Minns, concurred with Albanese that firearms licenses shouldn’t be issued permanently.
He promised to amend the gun regulations in his state, but he was unable to specify how.
“It means introducing a bill to Parliament to — I mean to be really blunt — make it more difficult to get these horrifying weapons that have no practical use in our community,” Minns told reporters.
“If you’re not a farmer, you’re not involved in agriculture, why do you need these massive weapons that put the public in danger and make life dangerous and difficult for New South Wales Police?” he asked.
After a lone gunman massacred 35 people in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur in 1996, Australia’s firearms regulations were revised.
Jewish leaders denounce acts of antisemitism
The massacre has raised concerns about whether Albanese and his administration had taken sufficient action to stop the rise of antisemitism. Fear and rage were expressed by Jewish leaders and survivors of the massacre, who wondered why the men hadn’t been discovered before they started shooting.
“There’s been a heap of inaction. But the people were warned about this. … And still not enough has been done by our government,” said Lawrence Stand, a Sydney man who raced to a Bar Mitzvah celebration in Bondi when the violence erupted to find his 12-year-old daughter.
“I think the federal government has made a number of missteps on antisemitism,” said Alex Ryvchin, spokesperson for the Australian Council of Executive Jewry. He was speaking to |reporters gathered on Monday near the site of the massacre. “I think when an attack such as what we saw yesterday takes place the paramount and fundamental duty of government is the protection of its citizens, so there’s been an immense failure.”
He added that an investigation was required into “how that was allowed to take place.”
More information emerges
Very little details about the men were made public. Police refused to give their names, although they claimed to be the duo was father and son.
According to New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon, the father, 50, was a member of a gun club and had a gun license that permitted him to lawfully get the six firearms that were found in his house.
His gun license entitled an adult to possess a rifle or shotgun if they had a “genuine reason.” Target shooting, leisure hunting, and vermin control are acceptable justifications; self-defence is not.
According to police, the man was a resident of Australia at the time of his death and had entered the country on a student visa in 1998. Officials refused to reveal the country from which he had immigrated.
His 24-year-old son, who was born in Australia, is being treated at a hospital after being shot. According to Lanyon, the man “may well” face criminal charges, and to prevent a prosecution case against him, police didn’t reveal what they knew about him.
Albanese acknowledged that the son had been the subject of a six-month investigation in 2019 by Australia’s primary domestic surveillance agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Agency.
According to Australian Broadcasting Corp., ASIO investigated the son’s connections to an Islamic State group cell located in Sydney. The Australian prime minister said that ASIO was more interested in the associates than the son, but he did not elaborate.
“He was examined on the basis of being associated with others and the assessment was made that there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence,” Albanese said.
Meanwhile, according to the most recent information from New South Wales Health on Monday, 27 victims of the Bondi Beach mass shooting are receiving treatment in hospitals throughout Sydney.