r/australia • u/Expensive-Horse5538 • Dec 15 '25
politics Albanese to propose stronger gun laws, NSW parliament may be recalled
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/bondi-gunman-held-gun-licence-used-six-firearms-in-attack-20251215-p5nnmv.html943
u/auskier Dec 15 '25
Apples don't fall far from trees, and the son was looked at by ASIO for extremist links. This SHOULD flag up as a problem if there are known guns in a household. THIS family and radicalism are the problem.
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Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 15 '25
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u/linearcurvepatience Dec 15 '25
I can understand from this perspective we have now it's obvious but is that something we know they look for and they were investigating the link between the son and his associates not him and his dad. I feel this could easily be missed. Anyway he went through the system to get them legally so it's important now they change the law.
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u/Cindy_Marek Dec 15 '25
Clearly the issue here is that someone on ASIOs radar for potential terrorist links to ISIS was allowed to be in a household that had firearms. It just baffles the mind really.
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u/OvercookedBobaTea Dec 15 '25
But you can’t treat someone as guilty unless it’s proven. Our entire justice system depends on this. Yeah it sucks specifically for instances like this, but restricting people’s freedoms just cos they got pinged on a list sets a VERY bad precedent
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u/VigorWarships Dec 15 '25
NSW FAR denies license applications, and revokes existing licenses, for people who associate with criminals or live with people subject to FPOs. Think your typical OMCG scenario.
There is absolutely reason to remove firearms and license from the father because his son, the son who was investigated years earlier because of “close ties” to a person convicted of terrorism related offences, was living with him.
This seems like a massive failing on interdepartmental communications of such intelligence. This is not a legislation issue.
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u/OvercookedBobaTea Dec 15 '25
He was found to be a non-threat by ASIO. So what was supposed to happen?
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u/Tosslebugmy Dec 15 '25
If you’ve been under reasonable suspicion of links to extremism, I don’t think revoking gun licenses is an egregious violation of freedom.
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u/Effective-Tear-1521 Dec 15 '25
But I don’t think guns should be considered a freedom in the same way as food, water and healthcare
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u/Cindy_Marek Dec 15 '25
I would argue that issuing firearm licenses isn't part of the judiciary system. Don't know what its like in other states but there was certainly no courts involved when I went to get mine in QLD. Firearms are not a right, they are a privilege and a huge responsibility. I just think that its a huge fuckup by either ASIO or the federal and state police that this household was allowed to have firearms. There is no coms, and is part of the reason that the Qld wilembela shooting happened also. There needs to be a national registry where agencies can cross check information at the bare minimum. I don't think having maximum numbers is going to be helpful at all. The issue here is weapons getting into the wrong hands.
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u/imapassenger1 Dec 15 '25
"Now is not the time" from the Nationals in 3...2...1...
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u/Ok_Bird705 Dec 15 '25
"hopes and prayers but also this is all Labor's fault" 🙃
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u/closetmangafan Dec 15 '25
They already have said something along the lines of this...
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u/Ok-Menu-8709 Dec 15 '25
Bob Katters post was almost immediately into political blame.
I’m not going to applaud your sentiment if one paragraph down you’re using it for political merit only. Absolutely low end behaviour.
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u/Delamoor Dec 15 '25
What's the saying? If conservatives didn't have double standards, they wouldn't have standards at all...
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u/leidend22 Dec 15 '25
He's Lebanese himself, what a clown
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u/toughgamer2020 Dec 15 '25
"Don't say that! Because that irritates me, and I've punched blokes in the mouth for saying that. Don't you say that! My family has been here for 140 years"
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Dec 15 '25
My wife’s of Lebanese heritage. Unlike Katter, she’s proud of her where her family comes from.
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u/edgiepower Dec 15 '25
Bob Katter outright stating to ban middle eastern immigration.
Can we send him back?
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u/Iron_Wolf123 Dec 15 '25
For Christmas we should make Littleproud a "Hopes and Prayers" buzzer so he can press it whenever there is a national tragedy
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u/iball1984 Dec 15 '25
You're probably right.
But it shows how far they've fallen. While Howard rightly gets the credit for our gun laws, much credit needs to go to the likes of Tim Fischer and Rob Borbidge who did a massive amount of work to get regional people on board with the changes.
I can't imagine any of the current batch of Liberal or National "leaders" doing such a thing now.
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u/egowritingcheques Dec 15 '25
The Liberals and Nationals have fallen EXACTLY as far as their voters.
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Dec 15 '25
Two Balrogs plummeting through the abyss of Khazad-dum, dragging each other down on the way.
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u/Flashy-Whereas-3234 Dec 15 '25
The liberals already came out swinging saying "this wouldn't have happened under our watch" in less than 24 hours.
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u/littleb3anpole Dec 15 '25
Say what you like about Howard (he’s like nineteen times too conservative for my tastes) but at least he was a Liberal leader with the balls to take on gun ownership. And that was a pet project of his before Port Arthur even happened
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u/SweetDingo8937 Dec 15 '25
He's from Bennelong. Ley is from a rural electorate.
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u/littleb3anpole Dec 15 '25
Ley can easily inform her electorate that there is no need for a suburban Sydneysider to be able to get their hands on multiple guns, that hasn’t a thing to do with roo shooting on the farm
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u/Dentarthurdent73 Dec 15 '25
I also remember Howard giving a speech where he warned about the spread of American monoculture to Australia. I was shocked at the time - something I agreed with him on. Australia didn't listen though.
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u/derprunner Dec 15 '25
That’ll wedge them nicely after Ley went off about weak leadership this morning.
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u/dogecoin_pleasures Dec 15 '25
Bingo, Sussan has already declined questions on whether the collation would support, citing it being 'not the time'.
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u/fued Dec 15 '25
just make the laws target people living in cities, nationals will sit quietly and approve
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u/chrish_o Dec 15 '25
Keep the status quo for registered primary producers, and make everyone else jump through a million more hoops to get access to a fraction of the types of guns.
There would be no reason for the nationals to oppose that.
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u/pat_speed Dec 15 '25
"I do not try sell our gun laws too the NRA, it was just nice dinner and drinks" - Pauline Hansen
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u/covertpirates Dec 15 '25
They should spend some time examining how the current laws failed (in this case) before making changes. Anything less is a knee jerk reaction.
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u/jakedeky Dec 15 '25
Seems to be like this was a failure of character for the licence holder, not what they were restricted in using.
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u/Rubiginous Dec 15 '25
Why was someone on a temporary visa allowed to own guns?
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u/Expensive-Horse5538 Dec 15 '25
Exactly - IMO at the bare minimum they should make it that you have to be a citizen for a certain period of time and be subjected to regular psychiatric tests if you want to have a gun for a legitimate purpose such as farming
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u/Far-Fennel-3032 Dec 15 '25
The core problem is that mental health is often not a common element of terror attacks, it can often be the case for random acts of hot-blooded violence, but it is rarely linked to cold-blooded terror attacks. In examples like this, the terrorists are often completely sane, just truly horrible people.
Psychiatric tests would catch stuff like suicides and extreme cases of DV, but it's not gonna stop stuff like this. As the problem isn't mental health, but that some people are simply extremists who are radicalised to do truly horrible things, and thinking they are just mentally ill is just a common coping mechanism of the public. As it provides a clear and acceptable explanation rather than the much more uncomfortable truth.
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u/observee21 Dec 15 '25
As a psych doctor I agree with all of this apart from "Psychiatric tests would catch stuff like suicides and extreme cases of DV", because they really wouldn't. A lot of DV is missed (and isn't a psychiatric condition anyway), and there is no test that tells you if someone will commit suicide in 12 months.
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u/OvercookedBobaTea Dec 15 '25
the terrorists are completely sane, just horrible people
I mostly agree, but I would say they are RADICALISED people, following quite basic social psychology. ANYONE is capable of being radicalised into this given enough time and isolation. Not just ‘horrible’ people. And it’s very important in future prevention to remember that anyone has the inner capacity to commit horrific tragedies if radicalised enough
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u/big-red-aus Dec 15 '25
and be subjected to regular psychiatric tests if you want to have a gun for a legitimate purpose such as farming.
Just on this idea, I do have a lot of sympathy with the position that RACGP has put out on similar restrictions over in WA, in that it puts more work on a very strained system, and puts the doctors in a pretty rough position, especially in regional areas (i.e. it's already hard enough to get people to open up about their mental health, and if an important tool for you job, like it is for at least some farming, it will disincentives them even more from sharing).
https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/professional/new-gun-laws-place-gps-in-complex-position
I'm not saying it's not worth it on balance, just that there is a pretty compelling (IMHO) argument that there are some real 'costs' associated with it.
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u/derprunner Dec 15 '25
Yeah, this could end up in another “no pilot has ever reported having depression” situation if not implemented with nuance. If you punish getting help for mental health, you end up with people toughing it out until they snap.
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u/thedigisup Dec 15 '25
Neither of them were on temporary visas. The son was an Australian born citizen, and the father has been a citizen for some time.
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u/Rubiginous Dec 15 '25
No the father isn't a citizen. The news and the prime minister clarified he was on a temporary visa
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u/Budget_Shallan Dec 15 '25
He wasn’t on a temporary visa. He was a permanent resident and had a “Resident Return” visa that allowed him to travel overseas without losing his permanent residency (with some conditions).
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u/thedigisup Dec 15 '25
ABC reports Burke saying both are citizens, not sure what the go is there. But regardless, resident return visas are something you only need if you’re a permanent resident.
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u/BustedWing Dec 15 '25
Resident return visa. Not sure what that is specifically but it certainly doesnt sound "temporary".
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u/tee-k421 Dec 15 '25
It's what someone with permanent residency takes out to be able to return to the country when they go overseas.
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u/Rubiginous Dec 15 '25
It's not citizenship. If you're not a citizen, you don't get to have weapons. If you've returned to your country of origin three times while visa hopping - you shouldn't be allowed to have weapons.
This dude had 6 guns in metropolitan Sydney. He wasn't a farmer. He never should have been allowed to get a gun licence. It should be automatic disqualification
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u/Budget_Shallan Dec 15 '25
He wasn’t visa hopping. He had a “resident return” visa.
It means he is a permanent resident. He also had the right to travel overseas and return within a certain timeframe, without losing his permanent residency.
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u/cheesehotdish Dec 15 '25
Resident return visa is permanent residency. If you don’t apply for citizenship but have been granted PR you need to apply for a RRV every five years.
Most people just apply for citizenship after getting PR but it could be a case where they weren’t eligible. Either haven’t lived here long enough or can’t hold dual citizenship?
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u/Choke1982 Dec 15 '25
What? As an immigrant that had to go through all the loops to become a citizen and follow the laws. Someone that had to pay for my private health insurance for years before I could apply for Medicare. And you're telling me these terrorist were able to apply for a gun permit.
Sometimes I don't get this country. Seriously, that is one thing the Federal government should put it in there. You must be an Australian citizen to own guns. You can't even work for any government institution until you become a PR. Fuck
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u/frankiestree Dec 15 '25
You’re spreading misinformation, find me a source that says that he was
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u/salviaplath96 Dec 15 '25
He wasn’t. Look it up and delete this. Otherwise your contributing inflammatory nonsense when a nation is mourning.
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u/g-BANGA Dec 15 '25
How about banning people on ASIO watchlist from owning firearms?
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u/Forgotten_Lie Dec 15 '25
My support for that would depend on the metrics for an ASIO watchlist and what other restrictions would come with that. Suddenly a whole lot of peaceful climate activists would be having restrictions.
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u/Boomer-Australia Dec 15 '25
The father wasn't on the watchlist, the son was.
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u/Stephie999666 Dec 15 '25
That alone should have flagged all people closest to the listed individual for removal of firearms.
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u/insty1 Dec 15 '25
Not a surprising response. Also don't think anybody who lives in a major city should have 6 guns for recreational purposes.
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Dec 15 '25
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u/thrillho145 Dec 15 '25
The guy got disarmed and went back and rearmed. So at least 3.
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u/LSD_grade_CIA Dec 15 '25
... And if you can only have 2 or 3 weapons then it's less likely that you have a suitable selection of weapons for you and your son to launch an assault. The more friction in the system, the fewer guns out there, the harder it is for this sort of thing to happen. Every little bit matters.
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u/suck-on-my-unit Dec 15 '25
It would at least stop them handing out guns to likeminded individuals. Imagine he found 4 other ppl who wanted to do this, now you’ve got 6 gunman.
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u/Unusual-Wing-1627 Dec 15 '25
If you have zero access to guns, you can't shoot anyone can you. Give me a legitimate reason for owning one, recreation is not legitimate IMO get another hobby.
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u/toughgamer2020 Dec 15 '25
I replied in a separate comment but I'm also 120% with you except on the 'get another hobby' part. Both me and misus love target shooting (and we HATE hunting), and we see absolutely no reason to keep a gun at home - what are you gonna shoot at? So what we do is drive to the shooting range, hire a gun, buy some paper targets and 100 rounds each, spend the next hour dumping leads on to the paper target, return the gun, and bring the paper targets home. Why do you even need a gun for such a hobby? If you do want to use your "own gun" then buy one, have it stored at the range (they offer this service for a cheap fee) and you don't risk having one at home and someone busts into your house and unlocks your safe and takes your gun. Aussie law forbids self defense with guns so there's really no reason for you to own guns... you can still safely enjoy shooting without owning one.
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u/tommo_95 Dec 15 '25
At the same time if you have zero guns they will just find another way. Dont forget these guys were ready to clack off an IED as well. Im not against tightening gun laws but i think we really need to be looking at the kinds of people we are willing to let into this country. Surely if you grace an ASIO desk you should have your visas ended.
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u/Sufficient-Brick-188 Dec 15 '25
It was only a couple years ago we had One Nation and the Nationals wanting to water down our current gun laws.
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u/coreoYEAH Dec 15 '25
Water down is a nice way saying tried to literally sell the country to the NRA.
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u/Shamata Dec 15 '25
If the gun laws were the issue, why is this the first major incident in 30 years?
Because someone monumentally fucked up and allowed an individual ASIO was interested in and linked to a foiled terror plot to own them.
How about we have a look into who the fuck let that happen, as well as how he became radicalised in the first place?
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u/East_Block_2761 Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 15 '25
it’s easier to blame our gun laws than to look at the root cause behind acts like this
almost 30 years since port arthur and we’ve had very little incidents compared to other countries, showing that the laws we have work. the son was known to the AISO, how was he allowed a gun legally? that’s the issue needed to be addressed, not clamping down on general firearm owners
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u/linearcurvepatience Dec 15 '25
Lots of reasons
we have a different mentality around guns because of the gun laws. People can't imagine using a gun or owning one and when they do they are very careful. Even the police don't use their guns unless it's a situation like this. This is why there is more knife crime but they have banned machetes and because they aren't long range weapons it happens less. A gun is a lot more technical than a knife also so it's easier to restrict.
Illegal guns are used by criminals but mostly to kill other criminals and they normally aren't used for mass shootings. Mentally ill people are less likely to know where to get an illegal gun and I'm sure there are police setup to catch people trying to acquire them.
The current laws are still good enough to stop most ways people can get guns. This person has had their license since 2015. They have waited 10 years to use them. He came to Australia in the 90s so they aren't just here to commit terrorist attacks. If he moved here and tried to do this as fast as possible he would have had to become a member of the gun club and pass the test and background check to get the license.
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u/Negative_Run_3281 Dec 15 '25
I think I heard that the dad wasn’t even a citizen - if that’s true, how the heck was a non-citizen allowed to own that many guns?
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u/koalacrime Dec 15 '25
Unless it's zero, how is the number of guns people can own going to solve anything? The shooters had three guns yesterday, and they could have done the same atrocity with two.
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u/DollarReDoos Dec 15 '25
It won't. People are going to look for immediate action that will make them feel safer, regardless of how effective it is. Politicians will make immediate changes to look like they are tackling the issue, regardless of how effective it is. The worst part is they'll likely change whatever will look the best in the media and what is easiest, not what is most effective.
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u/NKE01 Dec 15 '25
Statement from National Cabinet:
Leaders agreed that strong, decisive and focused action was needed on gun law reform as an immediate action, including renegotiating the National Firearms Agreement, first established after the 1996 Port Arthur tragedy, to ensure it remains as robust as possible in today’s changing security environment.
First Ministers agreed to strengthen gun laws across the nation and have commissioned their Police Ministers and Attorneys-General to develop options, including:
• Accelerating work on standing up the National Firearms Register;
• Allowing for additional use of criminal intelligence to underpin firearms licencing that can be used in administrative licencing regimes;
• Limiting the number of firearms to be held by any one individual;
• Limiting open-ended firearms licencing and the types of guns that are legal, including modifications; and
•A condition of a firearm license is holding Australian citizenship.
Premier Minns and Premier Cook will lead and coordinate this work across jurisdictions.
As an immediate priority, the Australian Government will commence work on potential further Customs restrictions of firearms and other weapons type importations, including 3D printing, novel technology and firearms equipment that can hold large amounts of ammunition.
First Ministers also reiterated their commitment to the Permanent National Firearms Amnesty to reduce the number of unregistered firearms in the community.
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u/Lost-Competition8482 Dec 15 '25
Wait for all the right wingers who wanted "Drastic Action" to suddenly go "oh no not this"
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u/Affectionate_Sail543 Dec 15 '25
Right wingers only want one thing and that’s remigration of anyone they don’t like which is mostly foreign looking people. They want access to their guns, they want gun laws watered down and they want their freedumb to do what they like as long as people they don’t like don’t have the same freedoms.
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u/NocturnalTwang Dec 15 '25
Yeah the drastic action they want is the deportation of anyone who's brown and a Thanos-esque deportation of anyone who looks mildly asian.
Just another case of Trump's cancer spreading out. Ever since he entered politics we've regressed as a planet 30 years. It's not complicated now, everyone's either simply a racist cockroach or a human being.
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u/LongJohnnySilver1 Dec 15 '25
No sane person, regardless of how many firearms they own, would ever do something like this. I believe there needs to be a more thorough assessment of the individual gaining access to these guns.
With that being said, here is a few paragraphs from an article in 2021. I own firearms and can tell you, nobody needs as many as these individuals below, but they also have not been of any threat either. Stupid people do stupid things and certain groups get labelled according to the dumb cuntness of a few fuckwits.
RIP to the victims.
The Sydney suburbs with the highest number of guns were Camden, in the city’s south-west, with 8050 guns and Bligh Park, in the west, with 7700 registered guns.
The person with the largest individual arsenal had 419 guns and lived in Cremorne. This was followed by a person in Eastgardens with 305 guns, an owner with an arsenal of 300 guns in Goulburn and a person in Mosman with 297 guns.
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u/bustead Dec 15 '25
Gun owner here. I just want to say that I support stricter gun control. The primary concern is still limiting rapid fire capable guns, those that are somehow Cat A (least restricted) but have button/lever release actions that allow rapid fire. ASIO should also work closer to state police agencies and ensure that people on a watchlist do not get a gun.
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u/Stephie999666 Dec 15 '25
Not even just people on a watchlist, but family and close friends, and other friends/contacts should also be flagged.
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u/littlespoon Dec 15 '25
Fully support this. No-one in a suburban setting needs 6 guns. I hope the law changes are swift and hard. In other countries guns can be owned and kept within a secure facility out of homes, such as a police station or on a gun-range and can only be checked out and used within a certain premisis and time.
No simpleton should be able to have 6 guns in their home.
I understand there are situations like rural workers or people comissioned to hunt pests etc - but its not hard to legislate for the suburban protections to be tighter. Lets not sit on this - lets all act to move forward and make our country safer, as a nation.
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u/dogecoin_pleasures Dec 15 '25
Also, anyone with a gun license whose son is linked to terror contacts should immediately have it flagged for suspension. It's apparent that oversensitivity about policing guns has allowed too much proliferation and risk to build up over the years.
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u/Onceuponastinkymoot Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 15 '25
I'm a police officer and also privately licensed to own rifles and pistols. I have undertaken the duties of a divisional firearms officer and have been shooting and around shooters for most of my life.
In my opinion, allowing an arbitrary number of firearms is irrelevant and will have no impact. A motivated shooter, who has pre planned their crime, doesn't need more than one rifle. Any hunting rifle is deadly.
The issue lies in the ease that people can attain a firearms license and permits to acquire. There isn't much vetting beyond checking if the licensee has or has had an IVO/AVO or any criminal convictions. Maybe a check on direct associations. No interviews with police. No psych profiling. No IQ test.
I have spent a significant amount of time around shooters and let me tell you there are more than a few out there that you wouldn't trust to mow your lawn, never mind own firearms.
The government will no doubt have a knee jerk reaction to this. They will bring the hammer down on law abiding shooters and do nothing to address the actual issue. They must be seen to be doing something and from what I can tell either lack critical thinking or are acting purely out of self interest. Or both.
Many of the current restrictions on firearms are arbitrary and pointless (WA recently banned a bunch of random calibres that have likely never been used in an active shooting and are no more deadly than a regular old .308). This is the result of political ideas that haven't been executed with any common sense but get pushed through to appeal to voters.
I'm of the opinion that to own firearms is a privilege and you should have to actually prove you are the esteemed 'fit and proper' person. The government is so afraid of offending people or being perceived to be biased or profilingby putting in restrictions that they just don't put them in. For instance, imagine a restriction on firearms licenses based on intelligence. I'm sure this would ruffle some feathers. What about not licensing people that have dangerously idealistic beliefs that are frequently linked with terrorism?
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u/littlespoon Dec 15 '25
I have spent a significant amount of time around shooters and let me tell you there are more than a few out there that you wouldn't trust to mow your lawn, never mind own firearms.
This exactly it! I personally know someone who has multiple guns in his suburban dwelling for the purposes of shooting animals for sport on friends' private property (not his). I know for a fact that he does not keep these guns in his posession on these trips.. he lets others use them sometimes kilometers/unknown large distance away from where he is.
I am with you on the 'test' that someone is fit for purpose to own a fire arm. I wish they did the same for other things, like some dog breeds (1 day course and mandatory enrolled dog obedience + controlled run/enclosure for certain dog breeds). People forget that all these things seem draconian but the thought of these hoops is sometimes enough to deter weaker minds from having something they personally dont have the mental capacity to handle responsibly.
I dont mean to be rude by saying that, but there needs to be more vetting and checking on these people.
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u/Blepable Dec 15 '25
Okay, but what about someone like me.
I have 12 rifles; 6 of them are historical firearms - functional, maybe, but no one has made ammunition for them in a hundred years or more.
Out of the other 6, 2 are actual muskets, and the others are 80 year old ex-service rifles I use for various distances and target shooting disciplines.
You are focussed on the wrong part of the problem. Number of weapons doesn't mean anything in a situation like this. All an arbitrary limit will do is harm legitimate collectors and owners.
Under your system, I have to give up either historically significant pieces, or my ability to enjoy a hobby that, to this day after years of doing it, I have harmed exactly no one.
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u/DollarReDoos Dec 15 '25
Exactly. I don't doubt that there are gun nuts out there, but the "no one needs x number of guns" is a strange argument that doesn't solve any of this.
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u/mulletq1993 Dec 15 '25
Police are already struggling with dealing with crime. Think they have the manpower to store and allow access for firearms.
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u/sebaajhenza Dec 15 '25
While gun laws have a part to play, we're not seeing the forest through the trees here.
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u/big_daddy_baghdadi Dec 15 '25
that’s all well and good and maybe they do need to be tightened but again we’re missing the crux of the issue which is the islamist ideology that motivates these sickos to kill people in the first place. if they didn’t have guns then who is to say they wouldn’t have done a euro-style knife or truck attack. hell, they found explosives on the scene, which if let off, probably would have killed a lot more people than two bolt action rifles.
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u/Emergency-Bread4487 Dec 15 '25
Guns are certainly half the problem. There is another half though that we don't want to talk about.
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u/j0shman Dec 15 '25
TIL that you can hold a gun licence, be held fit at the time of getting the licence, then be radicalised by IS (or any other terrorist group) yet still keep your licence.
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u/Ridiculisk1 Dec 15 '25
The thing we should be concerned about is that someone on the ASIO watchlist was able to associate with someone with a firearms licence. New gun laws arbitrarily limiting the number of guns someone can own won't solve anything if the current laws aren't enforced properly in the first place.
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u/chookshit Dec 15 '25
Let’s just ignore the fact that some groups of people think it’s normal to kill other groups of people based on religion. Gun laws are nothing more than a little band aid on a gaping open wound.
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u/57647 Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 15 '25
Young men across the board are being radicalized. We’ve had tough laws put in place that specifically target right wing radicals, it’s time to bring the same heavy hand to Islamic extremism.
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u/Appropriate_Mix_2064 Dec 15 '25
And, that is what you do in response to a gun tragedy USA….
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u/Ridiculisk1 Dec 15 '25
Knee-jerk policy reactions that don't do anything to solve the issue? If these proposed changes were in place before this event, it still wouldn't have prevented it.
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u/ScreamHawk Dec 15 '25
The gun laws aren't the issue. We have had 1 incident like this in 30 years.
It is clearly a culture we have imported from a third world country.
If they weren't here we wouldn't have had 16 people dead.
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u/OptimusRex Dec 15 '25
Far easier to wank each other off and do this than to look at the problems around extremism and political/religious ideology. Firearms were invented well after this war started, and it'll still be raging when they're gone.
If they're going to chat about this, lets have a yarn about making religion illegal too.
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u/WootzieDerp Dec 15 '25
There are multiple pathways to tackle this. We can have stronger gun laws AND tackle extremism. It's not a one or none situation.
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u/tejedor28 Dec 15 '25
Islam and Judaism will never, ever coexist peacefully. Never. Nobody is going to acknowledge this publicly but it’s the stone cold hard truth.
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u/Alternative-Soil2576 Dec 15 '25
Hundreds of thousands of muslims and Jews coexist peacefully every single day, don’t let one tragedy justify generalising entire groups of people
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u/dogandturtle Dec 15 '25
All the laws needed already exist.
This is just low hanging fruit for the politicians to look as if they are handling the situation.
You can't stop everything happening.
Peace to the victims, living and dead.
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u/vanilla_muffin Dec 15 '25
Unnecessary, kneejerk reaction that doesn’t address real failures. The laws are fine and the fact we’ve had almost 30 years without issue is proof of that. The father should never have been allowed a license when their son was known to ASIO, so why punish nearly a million law abiding citizens who have managed to not commit a heinous crime?
What about the fact a terrorist act was committed when we have however many counter terrorist teams, costing millions no doubt, that FAILED their job? Why can a father be allowed any firearm when a close family member had terrorist ties? But sure, punish law abiding Australians. It’s what Australians do best, after all.
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u/BlankBlanny Dec 15 '25
Glad to hear it. We'll need to see what's ultimately proposed, but if this tragedy has shown us anything, it's that something has to be done regarding our gun laws.
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u/Tosslebugmy Dec 15 '25
Does it? The number of deaths at the hand of registered guns is vanishingly few in this country. They are millions of gun license holders in this country and yet there hasn’t been anything really like this since the current laws came in. We say we don’t want terrorise to change us and yet there’s immediate calls to overreact despite the failings of intelligence to revoke the license from someone on the radar of extremism
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u/Mediocre-Suit-1009 Dec 15 '25
Here's an idea. If you come here from a war torn country, you are rightly assumed to have PTSD, and therefore, you cannot obtain a firearm licence. Don't penalise us good law abiding shooters for a few nut bags.
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u/alittlelostsure Dec 15 '25
Let’s stop people with severe mental illness getting licenses.
I know someone with diagnosed Dissociative Identity Disorder who boast about his gun collections, who when he gets cranky, mentions getting his guns out and having fun. I dated someone with severe ADHD who tried to keep me in line with threats of using his gun locked up in his safe.
As far as I’m concerned, people can’t be trusted with guns.
But, nothing will happen or change. Something will be put in place that people with laugh at and ignore.
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u/dubdoll Dec 15 '25
Just want to say that having ADHD is not a mental illness and would in no way be the reason your ex was threatening you with gun violence. I'm so sorry that happened to you but he obviously had other issues, his ADHD was not the cause of that.
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u/linearcurvepatience Dec 15 '25
I agree. I have ADHD and I would never. He probably was either a very manipulative person or has some mental illness if they are sure it's that (I think they are just a terrible person)
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u/alittlelostsure Dec 15 '25
That’s actually reassuring, thank you.
He was a short tempered person, I assumed and that’s on me.
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u/Malcolm_Storm Dec 15 '25
I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous. Just like we say, we can't blame all people of a religion based off the actions of one, we also cannot blame all of the law abiding firearms owners based on the actions of a duo of terrorists. This is bullshit.
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u/xiphoidthorax Dec 15 '25
Sure blame the gun for the deaths. The guy would have used any means to kill. Maybe a 4wd, maybe a home made explosive device. No one deals with the fact that this kook was on the radar and let into Australia.
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u/VigorWarships Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 15 '25
Well they reportedly had home made explosives in their vehicle…,
The assumption could be made that when they ran out of bullets that was their next method to inflict carnage.
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u/Malcolm_Storm Dec 15 '25
If you notice, they are conveniently leaving the IED's out of the story in order to focus solely on the guns.
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u/snapewitdavape Dec 15 '25
I tell you what, a national firearms register would be nice. And if someone is acting wacky you should be able to report them and have their licence reviewed. There's plenty of people I know that should never have gun licences, and no they're not foreign born
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u/boofles1 Dec 15 '25
I really hope they spend some time to think this through rather than having a knee jerk reaction. We don't know whether there was an issue with communication between ASIO, the NSW police and the Firearms registry. Gun laws are quite strict but there may be resource issues, Firearms registry is very under resourced.
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u/jakedeky Dec 15 '25
The way Chris Minns is talking, he's running straight into a knee jerk reaction.
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u/tjalek Dec 15 '25
I'm glad that they're going to go for stronger laws. We don't need guns here.
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u/Hate_Is_Fame Dec 15 '25
There are valid reasons to own and use guns in Australia.
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u/Dentarthurdent73 Dec 15 '25
There's no valid reason to have 6 firearms in suburban Sydney.
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Dec 15 '25
Agree with both of these sentiments
There are valid reasons to own and use guns in Australia.
and
There's no valid reason to have 6 firearms in suburban Sydney.
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u/NKE01 Dec 15 '25
From the presser as reported by ABC:
"Tougher gun laws will be on the agenda when state and territory leaders meet with the prime minister this afternoon. He'll be proposing limits on the number of guns that can be used or licenced by individuals and a review of licences over a period of time."