Australia launches gun ‘buyback’ plan after Bondi terror: Biggest one in 30 years

The Australian prime minister has announced the introduction of the gun “buyback” plan in the wake of Bondi beach mass shooting that left 15 people killed and dozens others injured.

According to Reuters, the recent scheme is considered the biggest one in three decades since the Port Arthur massacre in the island state of Tasmania, which was Australia's most lethal mass shooting.

Following the massacre in 1996, Australia announced a similar buyback plan and confiscated about 640,000 prohibited firearms nationwide.

Under this plan, the authorities will purchase surplus, newly-banned and illegal firearms.

According to Anthony Albanese, the authorities in Australia's states and territories will be entrusted with the responsibility to collect guns and weapons.

They will also be responsible for processing payments for surrendered firearms. After collecting weapons, federal police will destroy them.

“Right now, there are more guns in Australia than there were during Port Arthur. We can’t allow that to continue,” Albanese told a news conference on Friday.

“Non-citizens have no need to own a gun. And someone in suburban Sydney has no need to own six … The terrible events of Bondi show we need to get more guns off our streets,” he said.

Albanese reaffirmed, “We expect hundreds of thousands of firearms will be collected and destroyed through this scheme.”

The costs for the buyback plan will be divided between the federal government and the states.

Currently, Australia possesses more than 4 million weapons.

The buyback scheme comes as New South Wales rolled out a slew of gun control measures, including limiting the number of firearms in possession for recreational hunters to four.

The administration also placed limitations on magazine sizes and weapon types.

In response to the Bondi massacre, the police charged the gunman, Naveed Akram with 59 offenses, including 15 counts of murder and one of committing a terrorist act.