After the bloody shooting in Port Arthur in 1996 that killed 35 people, Australia once made the whole world admire when issuing an extremely strict legal system on gun ownership.
However, that national pride is being violating after the attack on the Hanukkah festival at Bondi Beach on December 14 that killed 15 people.
Security experts say it is self- complacency and loose changes at the state level that have facilitated the suspects' easy access to deadly weapons.
According to the investigation agency, suspect Sajid Akram, a 50-year-old man shot by police at the scene, has held a gun license since 2023. In a short time, he illegally bought 6 guns to carry out the attack with his son.
It is worth mentioning that in 2008, New South Wales removed the regulation on mandatory 28-day waiting time for additional guns. Ms. Peters, a legal consultant, said that if this regulation had been in place, the perpetrator would not have been able to store such a large Arsenal as that.
The current record check process has also been criticized as being too superficial. According to police data, in New South Wales, hundreds of thousands of people are licensed to use guns just by proving they are members of a shooting or hunting club. However, reality shows that many of these clubs are operating very loosely.
An investigation found that the registered address of the hunting club that the suspect Akram participated in was actually just a community center for rent and had no actual member supervision activities.
Another serious problem was the lack of connection between intelligence and licensing processes. The New South Wales police chief admitted that although the remaining suspect in the case was being monitored by intelligence for suspected contact with the Islamic State (IS), current law does not require police to refer to this data when reviewing gun ownership records.
The fact that a foreign citizen like Akram can easily get a gun license without going through a thorough criminal record check from the host country has also upset the community of legal gun owners in Australia.
In response to public outrage, the Australian government is reviewing proposed changes to the law, including limiting the number of guns per individual and permanently terminating the licensing.
However, experts warn that if strict control processes such as mandatory waiting time are not restored, these efforts will only solve the problem.
