Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is proposing stricter gun laws after 15 people were killed in a mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi beach on Sunday.
The suspected gunmen, a father and son, fired into a crowd gathered to observe the start of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah on Sunday evening.
Police confirmed the 50-year-old father was licensed to hold six firearms, which they believed were used in the shootings. Mr Albanese said stricter gun laws were needed, including a limit on the number of firearms that one person could own.
“The government is prepared to take whatever action is necessary. Included in that is the need for tougher gun laws,” he told reporters on Monday.
Mr Albanese said he would take the reforms to a national cabinet meeting with state premiers in the afternoon. “People's circumstances can change,” he said. “People can be radicalised over a period of time. Licences should not be in perpetuity.”
Mass shootings have been rare in Australia since a lone gunman killed 35 people in the tourist town of Port Arthur in 1996.
It led to sweeping reforms that were long seen as a gold standard worldwide. These included a gun buyback scheme; a national firearms register; and a crackdown on the ownership of semi-automatic weapons.
However, the number of guns held legally has risen steadily for more than two decades and now stands at four million – more than the number before the 1996 crackdown, accordi
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