A national firearms register, which would track weapons across Australia in real time, could have helped police assess the risk posed by the alleged Bondi attackers before the incident, according to the Australian Federal Police Association president Alex Caruana. The register was a priority after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre but remains incomplete.
Caruana stated that a robust national database would have allowed New South Wales police to better evaluate the threat from Sajid Akram and his son Naveed, who allegedly used six legally owned firearms to attack Jewish families at Bondi beach. Naveed had been assessed by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) in 2019 but was deemed not a threat.
“If there was a national firearms database that Asio also had access to in real time … they might have been able to make a dynamic assessment and change the risk level,” Caruana said. He also criticised slow progress on the register and called for tracking ammunition sales.
A plan for the National Firearms Register (NFR) was approved in 2023 after the Wieambilla shooting, with a target launch by mid-2028. However, a Guardian Australia investigation found missed milestones, hampered by poor resourcing and paper-based systems in some states like the ACT and Queensland.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said work would be “accelerating” and noted that over $100 million had been provided to states to digitise their systems. After a national cabinet meeting, the government announced a gun buyback scheme, the largest since 1996, and considered limiting firearm numbers and issuing licences only to citizens.
NSW Premier Chris Minns proposed removing the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal as an appeal mechanism for gun licence denials, citing the need for stricter controls. The federal law enforcement source highlighted difficulties in using Asio intelligence to refuse licences due to inadequate protections against disclosure.
