Australia To Tighten Gun Laws After Deadly Shooting At Bondi Beach

Australia’s leaders agreed on Monday to strengthen the country’s gun laws after its deadliest mass shooting in nearly three decades, in which a father and son opened fire on a Jewish festival at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, killing 15 people, including a child.

The pair shot into crowds gathered on the popular beach for the start of Hanukkah on Sunday evening, triggering scenes of panic as people fled the tourist hotspot.

Among the dead were a 10-year-old girl, a Holocaust survivor and a local rabbi. At least, 42 others were taken to hospital with gunshot and other injuries.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened an emergency meeting with state and territory leaders, with all agreeing “to strengthen gun laws across the nation”.

In a statement, Albanese’s office said the leaders would examine tougher background checks for firearm owners, restrictions on non-citizens obtaining gun licences, and tighter limits on the types of weapons that can be legally owned.

Mass shootings have been rare in Australia since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, where a lone gunman killed 35 people.

That attack led to sweeping reforms widely regarded as a global benchmark, including a national gun buyback scheme, a firearms register and strict controls on semi-automatic weapons.

However, Sunday’s attack has raised renewed questions about how the father and son — who public broadcaster ABC reported may have links to the Islamic State group — obtained their weapons.

Police were still investigating the motive, though authorities said the attack was clearly intended to terrorise Australia’s Jewish community.

Albanese described it as “an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores”.

The gunmen targeted an annual celebration that drew more than 1,000 people to the beach. Firing from a raised boardwalk overlooking the shoreline, while spraying bullets across the crowded area on a hot summer evening.

Witness Beatrice said she was celebrating her birthday and had just blown out her candles when the shooting began.

“We thought it was fireworks,” she told AFP. “We’re just feeling lucky we’re all safe.”

Armed with long-barrelled guns, the attackers fired for about 10 minutes before police shot and killed the 50-year-old father. His 24-year-old son was arrested and has remained under police guard in hospital with serious injuries.

Hours later, police discovered a homemade bomb in a nearby parked car, saying the improvised explosive device had likely been planted by the pair.

Rabbi Mendel Kastel said his brother-in-law was among those killed. “It’s unbelievable that this has happened here in Australia,” he said. “But we need to hold strong. This is not the Australia that we know. This is not the Australia that we want.”

Authorities have been cautious about discussing the attackers’ religion or ideology, amid concerns about reprisals and rising misinformation online. Police said they were investigating reports of pig heads being left at a Muslim cemetery in southwestern Sydney.

Amid the chaos, several people ran toward the danger to help others escape. Witnesses waded through fleeing crowds to rescue children, tend to the wounded and confront the attackers.

Video footage showed a man identified by local media as fruit seller, Ahmed al Ahmed, grappling with one of the gunmen and wresting the weapon from him.

Off-duty lifeguards also rushed across the sand to pull children to safety. “The team ran out under fire to try and clear children from the playground while the gunmen were firing,” said Steven Pearce of Surf Life Saving New South Wales.

Victims were carried across the beach on surfboards used as makeshift stretchers, while abandoned belongings littered the sand and nearby grassy slopes.

Flags were lowered to half-mast nationwide, and crowds gathered at Bondi Beach on Monday to mourn and sing in tribute to the victims.

The attack came amid heightened fear in Australia’s Jewish community following a rise in antisemitic incidents since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Australia’s government of “pouring oil on the fire of antisemitism” in the months leading up to the shooting.

World leaders also condemned the attack, including US President Donald Trump, who described it as “a purely antisemitic attack”.

Earlier this year, the Australian government accused Iran of orchestrating a wave of antisemitic attacks, expelling Tehran’s ambassador nearly four months ago.

Authorities said intelligence findings linked Iran to the arson of a kosher café in Sydney’s Bondi suburb in October 2024 and a major attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December 2024.