Bondi shooting: NSW likely to introduce new gun laws in wake of massacre, Minns says

NSW is likely to have new gun laws in the wake of the Bondi Beach massacre in Sydney, Premier Chris Minns has confirmed, with National Cabinet meeting Monday to discuss tougher new firearm restrictions.

Fifteen innocent people are dead and 42 injured after father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram opened fire on crowds celebrating the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, near the Bondi Pavilion late on Sunday. Akram Sr, 50, was killed at the scene by police and his son, 24, is in hospital under police guard where he is expected to be charged.

The victims included a 10-year-old girl, Matilda, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman and Rabbi Yaakov Levitan in the worst-ever terrorist attack on Australian soil as Sydney suffered its first mass shooting in 34 years.

Questions are mounting as to how the duo were able to be in possession of guns used in the anti-Semitic atrocity, given the gunmen lived at Bonnyrigg in south-west Sydney and not on a farm.

On Monday, it was confirmed that Sajid Akram had six licensed firearms as a recreational hunter who belonged to a gun club.

Mr Minns flagged recalling Parliament to pass new legislation that would leave a “lasting impact”, arguing existing laws were “clearly not fit for purpose” in allowing someone in suburbia who wasn’t a farmer to have a gun licence in perpetuity.

“The short answer is yes. They need to change and they can change,” he said Monday.

“It does require legislation and it means introducing a bill to Parliament, to be really blunt, make it more difficult to get these horrifying weapons that have no practical use in our community.

“If you’re not a farmer, if your not involved in agriculture, why do you need these massive weapons that put the public in danger and make life dangerous and difficult for New South Wales Police?”

Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon confirmed the dead man had a category A, B licence for recreational hunting with a gun club that entitled him to a long-arm weapons.

“He met the eligibility criteria for a firearms licence,” he said.

“The firearms licence was to be for a recreational hunting licence.

“He was a member of a gun club and was entitled by nature of the Firearms Act to have a firearms licence issued.”

National Cabinet — featuring Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, state premiers and territory chief ministers — is meeting on Monday to discuss nationally-uniform gun laws.

Western Australia is the only State with a cap on the number of firearms an individual can own, with those laws only coming into effect in 2024 limiting someone to 10 guns if they are a primary producer or competitive shooter, and five for recreational hunters.

“Well, some laws are Commonwealth, and some are implemented by the states,” Mr Albanese said.

“What we want to do is to make sure that we’re all completely on the same page. That is one of the reasons why I’m convening the National Cabinet today as a matter of urgency.”

The Australian Federal Police Association said a National Firearms Registry, established following a National Cabinet agreement in December 2023, could not wait until 2028 and needed to include tracking of ammunition sales and supply.

“We cannot afford to wait for another tragedy to highlight these failings,” AFPA president Alex Caruana said.

Change would be reminiscent of 1996 when national gun laws were introduced banning automatic and semi-automatic weapons in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania.

Gun law reform has historically been difficult in NSW, with former Labor premier Barrie Unsworth losing the 1988 election and a series of country seats after banning semi-automatic weapons, following a spate of recent shootings in Sydney, Melbourne and the Northern Territory.

Under Labor, NSW in 2008 watered down its gun laws, allowing unlicensed shooters to use firearms at its ranges, if they filled out a form declaring they did not suffer from a mental illness.

The Bondi massacre marks the first mass atrocity in Sydney since August 1991 when seven people were killed at Strathfield Plaza.

Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who lives in Sydney’s eastern suburbs a short drive from Bondi, questioned how a man living in suburbia could have so many guns.

“I think a legitimate question has been raised about how the father, the 50-year-old, had so many guns,” he told the ABC.

“ I think a very fair question being asked is why somebody living in suburban Sydney was licensed to have so many long arms.”

Australian Gun Safety Alliance convenor Stephen Bendle said tougher gun laws were needed.

“We will continue to build a future where children – and all people – can live safe from gun-related violence,” he said.