Australian Leaders Back Stricter Gun Controls After Mass Shooting at Jewish Crowd

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media at Parliament House Canberra, Australia on Dec. 14, 2025. Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty ImagesThe Bondi Beach mass shooting targeting a Jewish festival has raised immediate questions over Australia’s gun licensing laws, after it was confirmed one shooter legally held a firearms licence for about a decade and owned six registered weapons.Fifteen people, including a child, were killed during the Hanukkah gathering, and 40 more were injured on Dec. 14 after the father-son duo opened fire.National Cabinet, a combined meeting of the country’s state and territory leaders with the prime minister, agreed on Dec. 15 on developing Australia’s National Firearms Register.Allowing for criminal intelligence to be used to determine gun ownership, limiting firearms per person, limiting the type of guns available, and make citizenship a condition of owning a weapon.There will also be moves to further limit customs restrictions on weapons imports like 3D printing, novel technology, and equipment that can store large volumes of ammunition.“Leaders agreed that strong, decisive and focused action was needed on gun law reform as an immediate action, including renegotiating the National Firearms Agreement, first established after the 1996 Port Arthur tragedy, to ensure it remains as robust as possible in today’s changing security environment,” the National Cabinet said.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had earmarked some of the reforms before the meeting.“A review of licenses over a period of time—people’s circumstances change, people can be radicalised over a period of time. And checks of course, making sure those checks and balances are in place as well,” he told reporters on Dec. 15.