There is Broad Social and Political Agreement on the Need to Reform NSW Firearms Laws

In the wake of the horrendous Bondi Beach massacre, the Minns government has taken the extraordinary measure of reconvening NSW parliament for two days right before Christmas, as it has already officially closed for the year, and this is primarily to consider new firearm laws that NSW premier Chris Mins considers ought to be in place before the entire state breaks for the holiday season.

Calls for tightening guns laws in the wake of father and son mass murderers Sajid and Naveen Akram having gunned down 15 people at an event to mark the first night of Hannukah, have provided the community with some cohesion in this moment of heightened tensions, as NSW Labor, the Liberals and crossbenchers, except perhaps the Shooters Party, are united on the need for gun reform.

In place since 1996, the National Firearms Agreement has meant that the rising mass shootings of 1980s and 1990s Australia were made a thing of the past. However, gun control advocates have warned for the last decade that various state and territory pro gun lobbies have been pushing for an easing of restrictions, which saw the updated 2017 NFA watered down compared to the original.

The Bondi Beach massacre is being labelled Australia’s worst terrorist offence. The shooters were targeting a “Chanukah by the Sea” event. The Muslim father and son had ties to a local ISIS cell and were targeting a Jewish religious event. But as the ABC’s Laura Tingle has wisely underscored, the mass shooting had nothing to do with religion, rather the antisemitic attack was ideological.

Prime minister Anthony Albanese convened a National Cabinet meeting on Monday. Comprised of state premiers and territory chief ministers, the body has agreed to “strengthen gun laws across the nation”, and the NSW Council for Civil Liberties has come out in support of the stricter gun control laws being spruiked, as it “has never been supportive of a right to bear arms”.

Overhauling gun control laws

“On 22 and 23 December, the government will call back the NSW parliament to deal with urgent legislation that we believe is required pre-Christmas to keep the community safe and ensure there are unambiguous laws in place when it comes to public safety in relation to firearms legislation in this state,” Minns told the press on 17 December 2025.

“We are proposing a bill that we haven’t finally drafted, but we will share with the opposition as soon as possible, to cap the number of firearms, to reclassify straight pull and pump action shotguns, to look at reducing magazine capacity in those shotguns and crucially, removing NCAT as an appeal mechanism once a designation has been made about withdrawing a licence.”

The premier clarified on the last point that NSW police is often repealing the gun licenses of civilians who are considered to pose a risk if they continue on with one. However, these decisions are often being rescinded on appeal in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, with “police objections being overturned and the guns remaining with that individual”.

Following the National Cabinet meeting, Albanese announced that the states and territories have agreed to accelerate the establishment of a National Firearms Register, to provide stricter criminal intelligence to underpin firearm licensing, to limit how many firearms a person can own, to limit open ended licensing, types of guns and modifications and to limit licence availability to citizens.

“One of the things that we’ve done today at the National Cabinet, is to determine that we need to examine the gun laws that were carried in the wake of the 1996 Port Arthur massacre,” the PM explained on Monday. “Port Arthur was someone engaged in random violence against people. This is targeted, this is ideologically driven and therefore, is a different form of hatred and atrocity.”

A distinctly rare event under current gun laws

The laws governing gun ownership are contained in the Firearms Act 1996 (NSW), which was rolled out in the wake of the original NFA. Despite the fact that in the moment there are fierce calls for further firearm controls, the fact that the Howard government’s reforms have been so effective over the decades since, is the reason why Bondi marks one of only a slim number of mass shootings since.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, as of the 18th of December 2025, there have been 393 mass shootings in the United States this year alone. The US guarantees the right to bear arms. In Australia, however, the Bondi Beach massacre is only the second mass shooting in this country this year, after the Croydon Park mass shooting. Indeed, over 2023 and 2024, there were no mass shootings.

Much of the Australian public on either side of the political spectrum are dumbfounded at how a western Sydney father and son team could have perpetrated a mass killing in public with such gigantic rifles. However, the simple truth is Sajid Akram had a basic firearms licence, which he was able to obtain in 2023, and he then secured permits to own six separate firearms.

The NSW firearm regime involves categories of licenses – categories A, B, C, D and H – which become increasingly restrictive. Category D licensees are a very select group of professionals who need firearms and can obtain the most dangerous guns available in the country. However, Sajid had a category A and B licence, which permitted him to legally obtain the guns he and his son killed with.

The query repeatedly being raised by the NSW premier, the Australian prime minister and politicians of all stripes is why should regular people have vicious weapons that can easily be used to perpetrate mass murder at home in order to satisfy their desires to practice shooting at a gun range, as this appears to be the only valid excuse many people have for owning such weapons.

In a report released in May this year, the Australia Institute outlined that a gradual weakening of the NFA has led to a proliferation of guns in the community, with NSW licensees in possession of 1,125,553 registered firearms.

Gun control supported across the spectrum

“The guns used to inflict the horrifying antisemitic killings and violence on Bondi Beach should never have been in the hands of the hate fuelled depraved shooters and the fact that they were, is a failing of our gun laws and their implementation,” said NSW Greens MLC Sue Higginson in a statement on Wednesday.

“The premier has identified reforms to enable greater consideration of intelligence by police when licensing firearms. What he has not mentioned is that the Firearms Act already provides for consideration of criminal intelligence, but it has been limited in its application,” she continued.

“Police need to be able to undertake and rely upon a broad range of intelligence from all intelligence agencies when we are talking about gun safety.”

The NSW Greens justice spokesperson outlines that her party is more than willing to act on gun control, and she cites the Australian Gun Safety Alliance’s ten point plan, which calls for the removal of hunting licences, further restrictions on high-capacity firearms, ending home storage for nonoccupational firearms and explicitly prohibiting the use of firearms by children.

“NSW Council for Civil Liberties has never been supportive of a right to bear arms,” outlined council president Timothy Roberts. “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person and this must be the prevailing consideration. This means taking effective action to reduce gun crime, inappropriate gun use and the risk of guns being stolen and used illegally.”

“A person should not be able to own as many guns as they wish and the pattern of an ever-increasing number of guns in our community since 1996 must end,” the respect lawyer made certain. “The more guns in the community, the less secure we are and any gun reform needs to be weighed against that cost.”