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shooting at bondi beach There has been intense debate in Australia about the status of the country gun control laws,
on the first day of hanukkahFather and son allegedly killed at least 15 people A Jewish synagogue was targeted in bondi beach On Sunday.
In response, the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese An emergency national cabinet meeting was held to discuss whether gun laws needed to be changed.
After the meeting all states and territories agreed to strengthen gun laws. Reform ideas include limiting how many guns a person can own, increasing the types of guns considered legal, and making Australian citizenship a condition of holding a license.
A ban on import of guns, including 3D-printed weapons, will also be considered.
“People can be radicalized over time. Licenses should not be in perpetuity and there must certainly be checks and balances in place,” Mr Albanese told a news conference.
Past shooting incidents and history of gun laws in Australia
Gun laws in Australia first came under intense scrutiny in 1996, when the country suffered the worst mass shooting in its history in Port Arthur, Tasmania, in which 35 people were killed and 23 injured.
Martin Bryant, 28 at the time, launched his attack on the Seascape Bed and Breakfast, killing two people 12 hours before the shooting began.
Bryant used two semi-automatic rifles and attacked a small café in Port Arthur, a popular tourist destination, before moving on to a gift shop and car park.
He then stole a car and drove to a nearby service station, where he killed a woman and kidnapped her partner. Bryant returned to Seascape and killed his hostage, set fire to the property, and was captured the next morning.
The incident sparked a national debate over the state of Australia’s gun laws. Before the Port Arthur Massacre, anyone with a regular shooting license could legally possess any number of high-velocity weapons and ammunition.
Then-Prime Minister John Howard dramatically changed Australia’s gun laws. This included creating a uniform national law banning pump-action, automatic and semi-automatic firearms.
The sale or supply of weapons was also limited under the National Firearms Agreement, which also required registration and safe storage.
Mr Howard faced pressure from anti- and pro-gun groups as protests against the changes took place. At one point, Mr Howard stood in front of thousands of pro-gun protesters wearing a bullet-proof vest in the rural town of Sale, Victoria.
Stricter laws were eventually passed and were largely successful in preventing large-scale gun violence in Australia.
How did the Bondi Beach shooting unfold?
While the country has a reputation for strict gun control, a recent report Australia Institute In January 2025, it was discovered that gun ownership had expired.
In 1996, there were approximately 3.2 million licensed firearms, while in 2024, there were over 4 million licensed firearms.
The state of New South Wales – where the Bondy shooting took place – had the highest number of registered guns in 2024, with more than 1.1 million. The report argued that the assumption that rural areas would have the most guns because of farming is not the case.
“In contrast, there are large numbers of guns in NSW’s major cities,” the report said.
The report also warned that state and territory regulations for gun laws are inconsistent. In Australia, state and territory governments have the powers to legislate on gun regulation, not the federal government.
The Howard-driven National Firearms Agreement, agreed to by all states and territories, has seen few changes since 1996 and is rarely reviewed.
“For example, the NFA has yet to be amended to recognize pump-action rifles, which are now available in some states and territories but not in others,” the report said.
While NSW Police have not yet confirmed what type of guns the Bondi Beach attackers used, John Coyne, director of national security at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, reported Sydney Morning Herald The guns appear to be bolt-action high-powered rifles and shotguns.
“Over the last several years, there has been a proliferation of what you call straight-pull guns,” he said.
“That’s because they’re fast.”
Mr Coyne said this trend was more pronounced in Australia as “people had access to semi-automatic firing weapons, and they had to get closer to that speed to fire repeatedly”.