The Australian myth once called the "textbook of gun control" has collapsed. For nearly 30 years after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 that left 35 people dead, Australia prided itself on ironclad gun control. But a mass shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach on the 14th left at least 15 innocent civilians dead. Including the shooter, 16 people were killed in the catastrophe.
After it emerged that the shooter held a legal gun license, Australian media criticized the government for touting its gun control system as a model answer while exposing its loopholes. Some experts warned that in countries classified as gun-safety zones like Korea, evolved terrorism that cannot be blocked by systems alone can intrude into daily life at any time.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald and the BBC on the 15th (local time), New South Wales (NSW) Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said at an official briefing that Sajid Akram, who carried out the attack, "maintained a gun license for the past 10 years and did not cause a single incident during that period."
According to Australian investigators, Sajid was a lawful gun owner with a license since 2015. He had six registered firearms. NSW Police said it turned out he possessed all six as long guns, including rifles and shotguns. Sajid also used his own firearms for the crime, rather than illegal weapons transacted on the black market. Investigators did not disclose whether the firearm used was an automatic rifle that continues firing while the trigger is held or a manual rifle that requires loading each round.
Australia banned the sale of semi-automatic rifles after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 that killed 35 people. It also carried out a sweeping gun buyback. Since then, gun-related mortality in Australia has plummeted. From the mid-2000s, gun deaths fell to around 1 per 100,000 people. Compared with the 4 to 5 per 100,000 before the reform, that is about a quarter. The United States, where gun incidents are frequent, cited Australia as a gun control success story to watch.
However, this incident laid bare the institutional limits of failing to screen "legal terrorists." The Sydney Morning Herald, citing experts, labeled it a "foretold failure of a leaky system." Under current Australian law, once a gun license is issued, it can be retained without further verification. There is also no limit on the number of guns one can own. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, "People can radicalize over time, so licenses should not be permanent," adding, "We will change the law by introducing a national gun registry and limiting the number of guns an individual can own."
According to Bloomberg, gun control laws differ slightly by state in Australia. A nationwide integrated registration system for firearm ownership is also inadequate, making cross-verification between the federal and state governments on high-risk individuals virtually impossible. When a lawful gun owner undergoes a sudden change of heart or is influenced by hateful ideology, the government has no separate system in place to screen for it in advance. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns sharply criticized regulators, saying, "A permanent licensing system that remains in place once issued without any meaningful renewal process is an anachronism that fails to reflect the risks of modern society."
This attack was not an indiscriminate crime targeting the general public. It was a clear hate crime aimed at a specific race and religion. The scene was a festival venue celebrating the Jewish holiday Hanukkah. Most of the victims were members of the Jewish community. Australian authorities said the attackers pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) shortly before the attack, and an IS flag was found in their vehicle. The Australian government and police officially classified the incident as an anti-Semitic "terror and hate crime" targeting the Jewish and Judaism community.
Counterterrorism experts agreed that attention should be paid to the "fragmentation of attacks" shown in this incident. Australian authorities are investigating whether external forces such as al-Qaida or IS were organizationally involved. There are no signs yet that Sajid Akram and his son, Navid Akram, received orders from an international terror group. Major outlets including the New York Times (NYT) analyzed that they were typical self-radicalized terrorists. It means "lone wolf" terrorists who prepare and carry out their tools of crime alone without belonging to any organization.
NSW Police said, "Neither suspect was on a counterterrorism watchlist," and acknowledged that "intelligence agencies also failed to detect any signs that the two planned the crime in advance." This shows the limits of an existing organization-centered surveillance net in stopping individuals who learn Islamist extremism via social media and YouTube and put it into action.
The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) estimated that about 260,000 illegal firearms that such lone wolves could use circulate in Australia's black market. In Korea as well, information on making homemade guns with 3D printers or building weapons using smuggled parts is floating around the internet.
The Australian Jewish outlet "Forward" said, "The belief that Australia is the safest place for Jews was shattered by this incident," and assessed it as a tragedy born of complacency that failed to read the changing face of terrorism, obscured by the title of a "gun-incident clean nation."