Australian leaders on Monday pledged to swiftly strengthen the country’s gun laws following a mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach that killed at least 15 people and wounded dozens more.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the attack was an act of antisemitic terrorism and vowed tougher restrictions, including limits on the number of firearms an individual can own, periodic license reviews, tighter eligibility rules, and expanded use of criminal intelligence in vetting gun owners. The proposals would mark the most significant update to Australia’s landmark firearms framework since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.
Police fatally shot one suspect, a 50-year-old father who legally owned six guns and had held a license for a decade. His 24-year-old son, an Australian citizen without a gun license, remains in a coma. Authorities confirmed the younger suspect had been reviewed by Australia’s domestic intelligence agency in 2019 due to associations of concern but was assessed as posing no active threat at the time.
At least 38 people were hospitalized, including Ahmed al Ahmed, a 42-year-old shop owner who was shot while intervening to disarm one attacker. Federal and state leaders also proposed restricting gun ownership to citizens, a move that would have barred the older suspect, and signaled further changes to state-level laws in New South Wales.
