{"id":195660,"date":"2025-12-21T00:48:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T00:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/195660\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T00:48:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T00:48:07","slug":"a-key-piece-of-port-arthur-era-gun-reform-remains-unfinished-could-it-have-helped-prevent-the-bondi-attack-gun-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/195660\/","title":{"rendered":"A key piece of Port Arthur-era gun reform remains unfinished. Could it have helped prevent the Bondi attack? | Gun control"},"content":{"rendered":"

A national firearms register, which would track weapons across the country in real time, was a priority for law enforcement and gun control advocates after the 1996 Port Athur massacre.<\/p>\n

But almost 30 years later, it remains unfinished.<\/p>\n

The Australian Federal Police Association president Alex Caruana told Guardian Australia this week<\/a> that a robust national firearms database would have allowed New South Wales police to better assess the risk posed by the accused Bondi gunmen ahead of Sunday\u2019s terror attack.<\/p>\n

Sajid Akram, who was shot dead by police, held a firearm licence and owned six guns, which he and his son Naveed allegedly used to open fire on Jewish families celebrating Hanukah at Bondi beach.<\/p>\n

It was disclosed on Monday that Naveed, who has now been charged with 59 offences including 15 counts of murder<\/a>, came to the attention of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) in October 2019 \u201con the basis of being associated with others\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe assessment was made that there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence,\u201d the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said.<\/p>\n

It is not clear whether the NSW firearms registry was aware of this association.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there was a national firearms database that Asio also had access to in real time \u2026 they might have been able to make a dynamic assessment and change the risk level of that person,\u201d Caruana said. \u201cThey would have the ability to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caruana criticised the slow progress on the register and said there was also a need for it to track ammunition sales.<\/p>\n

Milestones missed<\/p>\n

A plan for a national register was finally signed off on by states and territories in 2023 after the 2022 shooting of two police officers and a neighbour in Wieambilla, Queensland.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil the NFR is delivered, existing risks to police officers and community members will remain due to information gaps, delaying in locating firearms, sharing information on risks posed by owners and diversion of firearms to the illicit market,\u201d a national cabinet document on the NFR released under freedom of information law states.<\/p>\n

The register, which will provide a real-time \u201clife-cycle view\u201d of registered firearms and licences, is meant to be up and running by mid-2028, but a Guardian Australia investigation<\/a> found that the rollout has missed key milestones.<\/p>\n

The process has also been hampered by poor resourcing and record-keeping at some state registries. In the ACT, for example, the register is still paper-based. Queensland licensing also remains largely on paper, although a digital transition is in the works.<\/p>\n

\"BondiBondi beach terror attack: how Australia’s gun laws have eroded \u2013 video <\/p>\n

After the attack in Bondi, Albanese said that work would be \u201caccelerating\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the ABC on Tuesday, the prime minister outlined the challenges<\/a>. \u201cSome state governments still have paper processes for the registration of firearms, so it\u2019s impossible to check if you don\u2019t have a digitised system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than $100m has been provided to states and territories, which is where guns are registered, to enable them to digitise their system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Victorian police minister, Anthony Carbines, said the government would do \u201ceverything we can to meet earlier timelines\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cDifferent states and territories have different arrangements and also have different levels of capacity,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the goal here is to have a coordinated, harmonised register.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a national cabinet meeting on Monday, the government detailed a range of potential changes to gun laws. Options included limiting the number of firearms that individuals can own and issuing licences only to citizens. On Friday, the prime minister announced a national gun buyback scheme \u2013 the largest since the one initiated by the Howard government in 1996.<\/p>\n

Q&AHow did Australia change its gun laws after the Port Arthur massacre?Show<\/p>\n

After the 1996 mass shooting in Port Arthur that killed 35 people, the Australian government enacted the national firearms agreement<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The deal between the federal and state governments aimed to make gun laws broadly uniform across states and territories. It introduced mandatory licensing, rules for secure storage and use, and restrictions on semiautomatic rifles and pump action shotguns.<\/p>\n

There was a buyback scheme for guns that were now classed as illegal. Australians could voluntarily give up weapons in exchange for financial compensation \u2013 leading to the surrender of more than 600,000 firearms.<\/p>\n

Owners would also need a \u201cgenuine reason\u201d for having guns, such as hunting or sports shooting, and personal protection was not a valid reason. The agreement specifically states that firearm possession is a privilege, not a right.<\/p>\n

This sets Australia apart from other countries, most notably the United States, where a right to bear arms is included in its constitution. US Congress and state legislatures have passed some gun control measures, including mandated background checks but, unlike Australia, most states have not banned assault weapons.<\/p>\n

Gun ownership in the UK is also considered a privilege, not a right, and new laws have similarly responded to mass shootings, including the 1987 Hungerford massacre. Certain semiautomatic rifles were banned and police must consider reasons for ownership before issuing a licence.<\/p>\n

The effectiveness of Australia\u2019s gun control measures remain a matter of debate, and some elements are yet to be fully enacted almost 30 years later, including the nationwide firearms register.<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

Appeal rights removed<\/p>\n

One federal law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the current licensing laws made it difficult to rely on Asio intelligence as the basis for refusing a person\u2019s application for a firearm.<\/p>\n

That was partly because there are not adequate protections to keep such intelligence safe from disclosure, should the applicant turn to state tribunals to challenge a decision to deny them a gun.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the NSW premier, Chris Minns, proposed that the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Ncat) would be removed as an appeal mechanism as part of gun reforms in that state.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew South Wales police routinely yank licences from gun holders and licence holders they suspect or fear are a threat to the community, those appeals are heard in Ncat, and often police\u2019s objections are overturned,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll extinguish that appeal pathway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Minns (right) lays flowers at a memorial at Bondi Pavilion. Photograph: George Chan\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThere needs to be changes to legislation to allow for licensing decisions to be made on non-disclosable information,\u201d the source said. \u201cThis incident should be a catalyst for that to occur.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, police disclosed that Sajid Akram was granted a licence in 2023 \u2013 after Asio became aware of his son \u2013 raising questions about whether there was a failure of information sharing between intelligence services and NSW police.<\/p>\n

It is \u201cessential\u201d for police to use criminal intelligence, not just a criminal record, in determining gun licences, Minns said earlier this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the kind of legislation we want to see in New South Wales,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Minns announced on Friday that his government would introduce a bill \u201cto impose a cap of four firearms per individual with strict exemptions for primary producers and sporting shooters\u201d.<\/p>\n

NSW will have \u201ctoughest gun laws in the country\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A national firearms register, which would track weapons across the country in real time, was a priority for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-195660","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}