Australian Prime Minister Pledges Tougher Gun Laws After Sydney Mass Shooting

SYDNEY (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday proposed stricter national gun laws after a crisis. mass shooting Targeted Hanukkah celebration in Sydney Bondi BeachIt caused the death of at least 15 people.

Albanese said he would propose new restrictions, including limiting the number of guns a licensed owner can buy. Their recommendations were announced after authorities discovered that the older of the two gunmen, a father and son, had had a gun license for a decade and had legally accumulated six guns.

“The government is ready to take whatever steps are necessary. This includes the need for stricter gun laws,” Albanese told reporters.

“People’s conditions can change. People can become radicalized over time. Licenses should not be permanent,” he added.

Following Sunday’s massacre, at least 38 people were treated in hospitals after two attackers opened indiscriminate fire at the beach festivities. Among those killed were a 10-year-old girl, a rabbi, and a Holocaust survivor.

Horror occurred at Australia’s most popular beach The deadliest shooting in almost three decades In a country with strict gun control laws aimed primarily at removing rapid-fire rifles from circulation. Albanese described the massacre as an act of anti-Semitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation.

He pledged swift change, planning on Monday afternoon to present his gun law proposals to a national cabinet meeting that includes state leaders. Some of the measures would also require state legislation.

“Some laws belong to the state and some laws are enforced by the states,” the Australian leader said. “What we want to do is make sure we’re all on the same page.”

Christopher Minns, the premier of New South Wales, of which Sydney is the state capital, agreed with Albanese that gun licenses should not be issued indefinitely.

Minns said his state’s gun laws will change, but he couldn’t yet detail how that would happen.

“This means introducing a bill to Parliament that will make it harder to obtain these terrible weapons, which, to be really frank, have no practical use in our society,” Minns told reporters.

“If you’re not a farmer, if you’re not interested in agriculture, why do you need these huge guns that endanger the public and make life dangerous and difficult for the New South Wales Police?” Minns asked.

Australia’s gun laws were revised following the 1996 massacre in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur, when a single gunman killed 35 people.

Meanwhile, the massacre has raised questions about whether Albanese and his government did enough to prevent the massacre. increasing antisemitism. Jewish leaders and survivors of the massacre expressed fear and anger as they questioned why the men were not detected before opening fire.

“There’s a lot of inaction,” said Sydney man Lawrence Stand, who rushed to Bar Mitzvah celebrations in Bondi to find his 12-year-old daughter when violence broke out. “But the public has been warned about this… And still not enough has been done by our government.”

“I think the federal government has made a number of missteps on antisemitism,” Alex Ryvchin, a spokesman for the Executive Jewish Council of Australia, told reporters gathered near the site of the massacre on Monday. “When an attack like the one we saw yesterday occurs, I think the most important and fundamental duty of the government is to protect its citizens, so there has been a massive failure.”

Ryvchin said there needed to be an investigation into “how this was allowed to happen.” These investigations began to emerge on Monday.

Little has been confirmed publicly about the men. Police said they were father and son but did not give their names.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said the 50-year-old father who was shot dead had a gun licence, which allowed him to legally acquire six firearms seized from his property, and also had membership of a gun club.

The special gun permit he held gave an adult with “bona fide cause” the right to own a rifle or shotgun. Accepted reasons include target shooting, recreational hunting, and vermin control, but self-defense is not an accepted reason.

Authorities said the man came to Australia on a student visa in 1998 and was an Australian resident when he died. Authorities have not confirmed which country he emigrated from.

His 24-year-old Australian-born son, who was shot and injured, was treated in hospital. Lanyon said the man “may very well” face criminal charges and that police would not disclose what they knew about him so as not to cloud the case against him.

Albanese confirmed that Australia’s main domestic spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Agency, investigated his son for six months in 2019.

The Australian Broadcasting Corp. said ASIO was examining his son’s ties to a Sydney-based Islamic State group cell. Albanese did not identify the partners but said ASIO was more interested in them than his son.

“Due to his association with others, he was examined and it was assessed that there was no ongoing threat or sign of threat of resorting to violence,” Albanese said.

The names of any of the dead or injured victims have not been officially released by authorities. The identities of those killed, whose ages ranged from 10 to 87, began to emerge in the news on Monday.

Among them was Rabbi Eli Schlanger, associate rabbi at Bondi Chabad and organizer of the targeted family Hanukkah event, according to Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement that conducts outreach worldwide and sponsors events on major Jewish holidays.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of an Israeli citizen but did not provide further details. French President Emmanuel Macron said that a French citizen named Dan Elkayam was among the dead.

Larisa Kleytman told reporters in front of St. Vincent Hospital that her husband Alexander Kleytman was among the dead. According to The Australian newspaper, the couple were both Holocaust survivors.

The violence broke out at the end of a summer day when thousands of people flocked to Bondi Beach, a symbol of Australia’s cultural life. These included hundreds of people who gathered for the Hanukkah by the Sea event, which celebrated the start of the eight-day Hanukkah festival with food, face painting and a petting zoo.

Hundreds of people came near the scene on Monday to lay flowers in the growing pile of floral gifts. There were also flattering words for a man. captured on video He appears to grab and disarm a gunman before pointing the man’s gun at him, then placing the gun on the ground.

The man was identified as Ahmed al Ahmed by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke. The 42-year-old grocery owner and father of two was shot in the shoulder by the other gunman and survived.

Australia, a country with a population of 28 million, is home to approximately 117,000 Jews, according to official figures. Last year the country was rocked by anti-Semitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. In these cities, where 85% of the country’s Jewish population lives, synagogues and cars were set on fire, graffiti was drawn on workplaces and houses, and Jews were attacked.

The Australian government has taken various measures to counter the rise in antisemitism. Hamas attacked Israel On October 7, 2023, Israel responded by launching a war against Hamas in Gaza. Measures included appointing a special unit to combat antisemitism, toughening laws and investing in improving security for Jewish schools and synagogues.

of israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: He said on Sunday he had warned Australian leaders months ago about the dangers of failing to act against antisemitism. He claimed Australia’s decision, in line with many other countries, to recognize the state of Palestine “fueled the antisemitic fire”.

Albanese vowed on Monday that the violence would be met with “a moment of national unity in which Australians will embrace Australians of the Jewish faith”.

“There is no place for antisemitism in Australia,” he said.

Albanian in August He blamed Iran for two previous attacks and cut diplomatic ties with Tehran. Authorities have not suggested Iran was involved in Sunday’s massacre.

Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand, and McGuirk reported from Melbourne, Australia.