How Australia was able to announce strict new gun laws after Bondi Beach attack : NPR

At least 15 people died on a beach in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday when a father and son opened fire on the crowd celebration of the beginning of Hanukkah. At least 42 people were hospitalized.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the shooting a “terrorist incident” targeting Australian Jews.

Mass shootings are rare in Australia, which has historically strict gun laws. But Sunday's deadly massacre has prompted Albanese and other Australian officials to review those laws and call for further restrictions to prevent more mass shootings in the future.

Here's what Australian officials are proposing and why the country's politics and culture might allow it.

Australia already has strict gun laws

Australia's notoriously strict gun laws began in 1996 when gunman killed 35 people during the attack in Tasmania.

The April 28 mass shooting became known as the Port Arthur massacre, and almost immediately the bloodshed prompted Australia's political leaders to unite in an attempt to tighten the country's gun laws. The effort was led by Conservative Prime Minister John Howard.

The result was the National Firearms Agreement, which limited the sale of semi-automatic rifles and pump-action shotguns and established a national buyback program that, according to National Museum of Australia. Importantly, according to the museum, it also brought together Australia's previously disparate firearms laws, which varied between states and territories until 1996, into a national framework.

The agreement has been cited internationally, including like former President Barack Obamaas a model for stricter gun control and is credited with sharply reducing gun deaths in Australia. The country has not had a mass shooting in the more than two decades that followed the agreement. one document found.

Albanese said at a press conference on Monday that “the gun laws passed by the Howard Government have made a huge difference in Australia and are a proud moment of reform, rightly achieved across Parliament with bipartisan support.”

But gun ownership in Australia has risen again in recent years. Public Policy Research Group The Australia Institute wrote in the January report that there are more than 4 million firearms in the country, which is 25% more than the number of firearms in the country in 1996. Some provisions of the National Firearms Agreement have been implemented inconsistently and in some cases “watered down”, the group said.

Graham Park, president of the Australian Shooting Union, told supporters over the summer that Australian gun owners were “effectively winning”. Guardian reported.

What will the proposed gun measures do?

The Prime Minister and Australia's regional leaders agreed to work on even stricter gun controls in response to Sunday's shooting. Here's what they include:

• Renegotiate the National Firearms Agreementwhich was passed in 1996 and established restrictive gun laws in Australia.
• Expedite the creation of a National Firearms Registry, idea developed by the National Cabinet of Ministers in 2023 create a nationwide database of firearms owners and licenses.
• Use more “forensic intelligence” in the firearms licensing process.
• Limit the number of guns one person can own.
• Limit the types of weapons and their modifications allowed.
• Only Australian citizens can hold a firearms license.
• Introduce additional customs restrictions on weapons and related equipment.. The Australian government may restrict the import of items that use 3D printing or accessories that can hold large quantities of ammunition.

Albanese and regional leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to Australian policy. National Firearms Amnesty Programwhich allows people to surrender unregistered firearms without any legal penalties.

Although the National Cabinet does not specifically mention it, some of the proposals address details surrounding Sunday's shooting.

Albanese said On Monday, the son came under the radar of the Australian Intelligence Organization in 2019. ABC Australia reported this. that he was being questioned about his close links to the Islamic State terrorist cell based in Sydney.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the son was an Australian citizen. Burke added that the father arrived in Australia on a student visa in 1998, which was upgraded to a partner visa in 2001. Most recently he was on a “return resident” visa.

How Australia's political system enables rapid legal change

One of the reasons the Australian government can act so quickly on political issues of national importance is what is called the National Cabinet.

The National Cabinet consists of the Prime Minister and the Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers of Australia's six states and two territories.

It was first created early in 2020 to enable Australia to coordinate its national response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The group has since met to discuss a range of national issues, from the rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes to proposed age restrictions on social media use.

The National Cabinet does not make laws, but its members try to agree on a set of policies or priorities and work with their parliaments to implement them.

Australians wanted stricter gun laws before Sunday

Gun control efforts in Australia inevitably lead to comparisons with the US, where the Second Amendment dominates any discussion about gun restrictions.

John Howard, Prime Minister at the time of the Port Arthur massacre, said in an interview with ABC Australia in 2016. that his observation of American culture led him to the conclusion that “the presence of guns inevitably leads to mass murder.” He added: “It just seemed like at some point Australia should try to do something to avoid going the American way.”

In fact, the National Firearms Covenant recognizes that owning and using guns is “a privilege driven by the overriding need for public safety.”

Strict gun laws are still popular among Australians today. January Australia Institute survey found that 64% of Australians believe the country's gun laws should be tightened, while only 6% think they should be repealed. And this in a country where compulsory voting means politics “generally gravitate towards the centre, suppressing the tendency towards polarization and grievance politics that is so pronounced in other parts of the globe”, said Monash University political science professor Paul Strangio. wrote last year.

There are now renewed calls for Australia's gun laws to be further tightened following Sunday's shooting.

“After Port Arthur, Australia made a collective commitment to putting public safety first, and that commitment remains as important today as ever,” Walter Mikacs. says the statement on Monday.

Mikac is the founding patron of the Alanna and Madeline Foundation, named for his two daughters killed in the 1996 shooting. His wife Nanette was also killed.

“This is a terrible reminder of the need to remain vigilant against violence and the importance of ensuring our gun laws continue to protect the safety of all Australians,” Mikacs added.