Gun control expert Rebecca Peters. Photo: Supplied
An international firearm regulation expert says the shooting at Bondi is not a sign gun laws aren't effective - rather, it's a wake up call for Australia's enforcement.
A father and son targeted a Jewish festival on Sunday evening, killing 15 people with legally-owned rifles.
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said the elder, Sajid Akram, had been a licensed firearms holder for the past 10 years and legally owned six firearms. Six firearms were recovered from the scene.
Rebecca Peters is the former director of the International Action Network on Small Arms, and was the leader of the grassroots movement in Australia to change gun laws following the Port Arthur Massacre.
She told RNZ since that success almost 30 years ago, Australia's standards had slipped.
"Complacency has been one of the results of the success of our gun laws initially," she said. "We have had a reduction in gun violence, and so it hasn't seemed so important, I guess, to the police and certainly to the parliaments."
For example, it was a requirement for a gun owner to be a member of a gun club, and then clubs would assist with enforecement by notifying authorities of any no-shows, which might imply they'd been citing recreation dishonestly as a reason to get a gun. She questioned whether that was still rigorously followed.
"Over the years, we've found that all of the enforcement of the laws has become much more lax, especially on renewal."
It's been revealed the younger of the gunmen, Naveed Akram, 24, had long-standing links to Australia's pro-Islamic State (IS) network, although he was not on any terrorism watchlists.
Still, Peters said those links should have been enough to prevent his father owning a firearm - let alone six.
Photographs of the attack indicate the weapons used were not semi-automatic. Peters said those were capable of causing much more harm, as they far reduced the time needed to reload, which meant more time firing bullets.
She said it still raised questions about the necessity of owning weapons capable of causing such harm for the purposes of recreation.
Data showed most Australians who owned guns lived in the cities and suburbs, she said. "Now, the average number of guns owned by a gun owner is four. And most Australians are really taken aback to think, 'Why are people in the suburbs being considered to have legitimate reasons to have four guns?'"
She said the rules needed to be reassessed. "I think some kind of measures to limit the numbers, and to just really, really pay close attention to the question of has this person has really justified [their need to own a gun]?"
Even if that vastly increased the workload for police and other relevant authorities?
"I think ask anyone in Australia, do you think that's fair to ask the police to really do a careful examination of who you're arming with this product designed to destroy bodies, do we think extra paying attention and digging around is worth it? Absolutely."
The Australian government agreed change was needed. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened an urgent meeting of national cabinet on Monday afternoon, where premiers and first ministers unanimously agreed to bolster rules around gun ownership.
On the table were options to hasten work on a national firearms register, new rules to limit the number of guns a person could own, and further restriction of legal weapon types.
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