Australia launches a major gun buyback scheme as the nation mourns 15 victims of the Bondi Beach shooting with a national day of reflection.
SYDNEY: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a sweeping gun buyback scheme to “get guns off our streets”.
The move follows one of Australia’s deadliest mass shootings at Bondi Beach last Sunday, which killed 15 people.
Albanese vowed to toughen laws that allowed the alleged shooter, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, to own six high-powered rifles.
“There is no reason someone living in the suburbs of Sydney needed this many guns,” he said.
The government will pay gun owners to surrender “surplus, newly banned and illegal firearms”.
This will be the largest gun buyback since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, which killed 35 people.
Australia will hold a national day of reflection for the Bondi victims this Sunday.
Albanese urged Australians to light candles at 6:47 pm on December 21, exactly one week after the attack.
Hundreds returned to Bondi Beach on Friday for a communal swim to honour the dead.
Swimmers and surfers paddled into a circle in the gentle morning swell, splashing water and roaring with emotion.
“They slaughtered innocent victims, and today I’m swimming out there and being part of my community again to bring back the light,” security consultant Jason Carr said.
Carole Schlessinger, a 58-year-old charity CEO, said there was a “beautiful energy” at the ocean gathering.
“To be together is such an important way of trying to deal with what’s going on,” she told AFP.
A married couple killed while trying to stop the gunmen were laid to rest at a Jewish funeral home.
Bondi locals Boris and Sofia Gurman were among the first killed as they tried to wrestle Sajid to the ground.
“The final moments of their lives they faced with courage, selflessness and love,” rabbi Yehoram Ulman told mourners.
Sydney remains on high alert almost a week after the shootings.
Armed police arrested seven men on Thursday evening on suspicion of plotting a “violent act” at Bondi Beach.
Police commissioner Mal Lanyon said there was no established link with the alleged Bondi shooters.
Detectives are investigating whether they shared similar “radical Islamist” views.
Father Sajid was killed in a gunfight with police, but his 24-year-old son Naveed survived.
Naveed Akram has been charged with 15 counts of murder, an act of terrorism, and dozens of other serious crimes.
Authorities believe the pair drew inspiration from the Islamic State group.
Australian police are investigating whether the pair met with Islamist extremists during a recent visit to the Philippines. – AFP
