- The community gathers at a beach vigil and paddles to honor the 15 people killed.
- Police arrest seven men in separate incident.
- The shooting appears to have been inspired by ISIS: those responsible.
SYDNEY: Australia will launch a national gun buyback program following the mass shooting in Sydney, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Friday, as hundreds of surfers and swimmers paddled to Bondi Beach to pay their respects to the victims.
The buyout would be similar to gun reforms introduced shortly after the 1996 massacre in Port Arthur, Tasmania, after a lone gunman killed 35 people, prompting authorities to implement some of the toughest gun laws in the world.
“Australia’s gun laws were last substantially reformed following the Port Arthur tragedy. The terrible events in Bondi show we need to take more guns off our streets,” Albanese told a media briefing.
Fifteen people were killed and dozens injured in Bondi on Sunday after two gunmen opened fire on people celebrating Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights.
A 50-year-old gunman, who was killed at the scene, held a firearms license and had registered six firearms, sparking criticism that Australia’s firearms laws needed an overhaul.
An estimated four million firearms are currently in the country, Albanese said. The government would target surplus, newly banned and illegal firearms, with costs to be shared between the federal and state governments, he said.
After the Port Arthur massacre, Australia announced a gun buyback program and secured the return of approximately 640,000 prohibited firearms nationwide. The total cost of compensating homeowners was approximately A$304 million ($201 million).
Neighboring New Zealand announced sweeping gun reforms, including gun buyback programs, after the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attack.
Seven men arrested
Albanese, under pressure from critics who say his center-left government has not done enough to curb the rise in anti-Semitism since the start of the Gaza war, said the government would also strengthen anti-hate laws.
The government said it had consistently denounced anti-Semitism over the past two years and passed legislation criminalizing hate speech. He expelled the Iranian ambassador after accusing Tehran of leading two anti-Semitic arsons.
Authorities have said Sunday’s shooting appears to have been inspired by ISIS, and police have stepped up patrols and policing in an effort to prevent further violence.
On Thursday evening, police said they intercepted two cars and arrested seven men in southwest Sydney after receiving information that “a violent act may have been planned”.
New South Wales state police commissioner Mal Lanyon said the men could be released shortly after assessing that the specific threat they posed was unknown, and that authorities would continue to monitor them.
Lanyon said police were not prepared to take any risks after suspecting the group was planning to travel to Bondi.
There is no “confirmed link” between the detained men and the two Bondi gunmen, but they likely had similar ideologies, he added.
ISIS called the Bondi shooting “a source of pride” in an article published on the group’s Telegram channel, although it did not explicitly claim responsibility.
Additional police and security guards were deployed to Sydney’s Lakemba Mosque, one of Australia’s largest, ahead of Friday prayers, Australian media reported.
Australia’s Jewish community gathered at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Friday to pray, while hundreds of swimmers and surfers formed a huge circle in the waters off the beach to pay their respects to the victims.
Community leaders described the support as deeply moving amid heightened fears over a surge in anti-Semitic incidents.
“Over the last couple of years, a lot of people were wondering if we were still welcome here in Australia because we were seeing people calling for our deaths in the streets every week,” said Rabbi Yosef Eichenblatt of Sydney’s Central Synagogue. ABC Newsafter attending the paddle-out event.
“It’s so heartwarming to see the outpouring of love and support. It’s honestly so therapeutic.”
