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The Australian government has announced a gun buyback scheme after the deadly Bondi Beach attack that claimed 15 lives.
As reported by the BBC, the scheme is the largest since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, which left 35 people dead, prompting Australia to introduce world-leading gun control measures.
On Sunday, two gunmen, a father-son duo, opened fire on a Jewish festival at the beach in the horrific event, which police have declared a terrorist incident.
Naveed Akram, 24, has been charged with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder and one of committing a terrorist act. His father, Sajid, was killed during the attack.
Speaking to media on Friday, December 19, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said there are now over 4 million firearms in Australia, more than at the time of the Port Arthur massacre.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said, "We know that one of these terrorists held a firearm licence and had six guns, in spite of living in the middle of Sydney's suburbs... There's no reason why someone in that situation needed that many guns."
She added, "If you're going to reduce the number of guns, then a buyback scheme has to be a piece of that puzzle."
The brand new scheme will purchase surplus, newly banned and illegal firearms and will be funded on a 50-50 basis with the states and territories.
Hundreds of thousands of firearms will be collected and destroyed, the government noted.
The National Cabinet has also agreed to impose limits on the number of firearms held by any one individual and restrict open-ended firearms licensing.
