Australia will tighten gun laws after the terrorist attack on the beach in Sydney. What the media is writing

The armed attack on Bondi Beach in Sydney during the celebration of Jewish Hanukkah on December 14 was the largest terrorist attack in Australia in the last 29 years. Despite the fact that the target was the Jewish community, and Israel directly accused the Australian authorities of not doing enough to curb anti-Semitism, the focus inside the country was on tightening gun laws, which are already among the toughest. What the foreign media write about it is in the Izvestia digest.

Financial Times: Australia to tighten gun laws

Some of the victims of the Bondi Beach shooting in Australia were identified on Monday, including a British-born rabbi, a 10-year-old girl, a retired police officer and a Holocaust survivor. Another 27 injured people are in hospital, some in critical condition. The authorities consider the incident as a terrorist act.

After the terrorist attack in Port Arthur in 1996, Australia passed some of the strictest laws in the world: they banned semi-automatic weapons, licenses were linked to specific types of weapons, and buyers began to be screened. But there is no centralized gun registration system in the country: if a gun owner moves to another state and uses a weapon there, it cannot be traced.

Red Sand: Mass murder took place on a beach in Sydney

At least ten people died as a result of the incident.

The Guardian: the terrorist attack in Sydney was allegedly carried out by a father and son

The suspects in the Bondi Beach shooting in Sydney are 24-year-old Naveed Akram, who was taken to hospital, and his 50-year-old father Sajid, who was shot dead by police. According to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Navid Akram had already come to the attention of the security and intelligence services in 2019: according to press reports, he was interrogated in connection with the investigation of the Islamic State cell (IS, recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in Russia).

According to police, Sajid had a firearms license, which requires proof of a "special need." His son worked as a bricklayer until recently, but a couple of months ago he announced that he had broken his wrist during combat training and requested all the payments due. His employer described him as a quiet man: although Navid comes from a Muslim family, he didn't talk much about religion at work and was a good employee.

The Washington Post: Where were the police?

The shooting at Bondi Beach, which led to the deaths of at least 15 people, showed how the heroism and courage of ordinary people expose the pathetic essence of every terrorist. Millions have seen a video where a bystander disarms one of the shooters. At the moment, one terrorist has been killed and the other wounded and taken into custody: it is unknown which one is depicted in the video.

It remains to be discussed how effectively the country checks immigrants and how it promotes their integration into society. And what is especially important is what measures are being taken to prevent such terrorist attacks in the future, both in Australia and around the world. Discussions on these issues have already begun in some circles.

Bloomberg: Mass shooting of Jews on Bondi beach shocked Australia

The first shots were fired on Bondi Beach at 6:47 p.m. Two armed men were spotted in a parking lot near a lawn near the beach, where more than a thousand members of the Jewish community of Australia celebrated the first day of Hanukkah. Videos taken by eyewitnesses show how a passerby neutralized one of the attackers. Witnesses said they heard about 40-50 shots. Soon, the area was surrounded by police and ambulances. By Monday morning, the death toll had risen to 15 people, and 27 more were in hospital.

The Bondi Beach shooting has become the largest terrorist attack in Australian history since a gunman killed 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania, on April 28, 1996. A few weeks after that incident, lawmakers tightened gun control. Obviously, Sunday's bloodshed will lead to a debate affecting everything from gun control to immigration and Australia's relationship with Israel. The conservative opposition has been criticizing Albanese for several months for insufficient measures to curb anti-Semitism in the country.

The Sydney Morning Herald: This should not have happened in Australia

The incident in Bondi was truly shocking. Despite warnings from Jewish leaders and security services about the possibility of such an attack, most Australians did not expect this. We don't have mass shootings like in the United States. But with malicious intent, even regulation can be used for its own purposes.

It is already too late for the United States to do anything about the crisis of armed attacks, which Australians find mysterious, including because the United States does not have a unified will for a political solution. It's different for the Australians. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has already announced that he intends to tighten gun laws. The New South Wales Parliament may be called before Christmas to pass an urgent bill.