Australia moved Friday to tighten gun laws and launch its largest firearms buyback in nearly three decades as the nation grappled with grief, anger and defiance following the deadly Bondi Beach shooting that left 15 people dead.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government would introduce a sweeping buyback program aimed at removing “surplus, newly banned and illegal firearms” from circulation, after revelations that one of the alleged attackers legally owned six high-powered rifles.
“There is no reason someone living in the suburbs of Sydney needed this many guns,” Albanese said, vowing to close loopholes that allowed such weapons to be owned.
The plan would mark Australia’s most significant gun reform since 1996, when a mass shooting at Port Arthur that killed 35 people prompted a nationwide crackdown widely credited with preventing similar atrocities for decades.
The announcement came as hundreds of swimmers and surfers returned to the water at Bondi Beach, forming a floating circle in a powerful show of unity and remembrance.
