Armed attack in Sydney, Australia. PHOTO: DAVID GRAY / AFP / Profimedia
The Australian prime minister said he would ask the government to consider limiting the number of guns a person can own, as well as the validity period of the permit, Reuters and the Financial Times write.
Australia on Monday announced plans to tighten gun laws after the worst gun attack in nearly 30 years, in which two men, a father and son, killed 15 people at a Jewish holiday on Sydney's Bondi Beach.
Police did not release the names of the attackers, but said the father held a gun permit from 2015 and had six guns registered.
One of the attackers was being watched by authorities but was not considered an immediate threat, security officials said.
Latest on Sydney's Bondi Beach massacre: At least 15 dead and dozens injured
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would ask the government to consider limiting the number of guns a person can own with a gun permit, as well as the length of time the permit is valid.
“Circumstances can change,” he said. “People can become radicalized over time. Permits should not be valid indefinitely,” the prime minister said.
Laws “must be changed”
Large-scale armed attacks are rare in Australia, one of the safest countries in the world.
The worst armed attack occurred in 1996, when a man killed 35 people in the tourist resort of Port Arthur in the southern island state of Tasmania.
Chris Minns, premier of Sydney-based New South Wales state, said his administration was also looking at overhauling firearms laws.
“Obviously, we are in the early stages of this investigation. We will take every step possible to ensure the safety of our community,” he said.
Minns said in a subsequent news conference that gun laws “need to be changed” but that it would take some time before the legislation passed.
He said it was “appalling” that powerful farm weapons would be used in a terror attack in the heart of Sydney.
Maya Argüello, a law lecturer at Swinburne University of Technology's law school, told the Financial Times that the attack would raise questions about the need for tougher gun laws, especially as one of the attackers was known to the security services.
She said Australia did not yet have a national firearms registry. “There are many red flags here. These discussions will be at the heart of the investigation,” she said.
“A catastrophic failure”
The Albanian prime minister also said he would do “whatever is necessary” to protect the country's Jewish community.
“Anti-Semitism is a scourge,” he told a news conference.
Alex Ryvchin, co-executive director of the Executive Council of Australian Jews, however, criticized the authorities' reaction.
He charged that the authorities had “failed catastrophically” by reacting poorly to the rising tide of anti-Semitic incidents and attacks, including two firebombings of synagogues.
“The consequence is that we now have body bags,” he said.
