The Australian government will launch a firearms buyback program, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced.
He said the government's largest firearms buyback program in 30 years would be introduced following changes to the country's firearms laws. “The government will fund it on a 50:50 basis with the states and territories, but all collection, processing and payment to individuals for surrendered firearms will be done directly by the territories“, he said.
Albanese also specified that the federal police would deal with the destruction of firearms after their collection.
It was previously reported that the leaders of the states and territories intend to reform the national firearms legislation in the country. To this end, regional authorities have been instructed to accelerate the creation of a national firearms register, limit the number of guns that one person can own, remove the issuance of permanent licenses for gun owners and introduce an Australian citizenship requirement for obtaining a gun.
The Premier of New South Wales, Chris Means, and the Premier of Western Australia, Roger Cook, are expected to coordinate this work. Meanwhile, the federal government will begin imposing additional customs restrictions on the import of firearms, including those made using 3D printers, equipment and ammunition.
The Australian federal government has designated December 21 as a day of remembrance for the victims of the terrorist attack in Sydney, which killed 15 people.
In a statement to reporters, the prime minister asked citizens to “observe a minute of silence on Sunday in memory of those who died in the attack“. “On Sunday, flags on all government buildings in New South Wales and across Australia will be flown at half-mast as a mark of respect for the victims and the grief we share. We are asking people across Australia to light a candle at 6:47 p.m. – exactly one week after the attack – as a quiet act of remembrance with family, friends or loved ones“, he said.
Meanwhile, Australian police have arrested seven men suspected of planning a terrorist attack in a south-western suburb of Sydney, ABC radio reported, citing a source from the New South Wales Police Department.
Investigators believe the men arrested on December 18, who arrived in Sydney from Victoria, “ profess an extremist Islamic ideology“ and may have “planned an act of violence“.
State Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said “the only weapon found during the search of the men was a knife, not firearms“. “We have some evidence that they intended to visit Bondi Beach. "We decided to keep them because now, after the atrocities committed last Sunday, we are not going to take any chances by waiting to see what they can do," he said.
According to data on the GoFundMe platform, its users have collected more than $2.5 million in donations for the man who disarmed one of the perpetrators of the Sydney attack.
According to GoFundMe, more than $2.56 million has been raised for 43-year-old Syrian Ahmed al-Ahmed, who took the weapon from one of the attackers on Bondi Beach. Australian social media users shared a video of the man, who was told that more than 40,000 people around the world had raised money for him. "Did I deserve this?" Al-Ahmed asks in the video, before thanking everyone who contributed.
A total of 12 GoFundMe campaigns have raised more than $5 million for Al-Ahmed, dubbed the "Bondie Hero," and the families of those killed in the attack. More than 73,000 people from 60 countries have joined the campaign.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited the man in hospital, thanking him for his bravery and calling him a "true Australian hero." Australian Governor-General Samantha Mostyn, who also visited Al-Ahmed in his hospital room, conveyed words of gratitude from King Charles III.