Australia Tightens Gun Rules After Deadly Bondi Attack

Australia's government is taking big steps to control guns. They just passed new laws to make it harder to get a gun license. This comes after a terrible shooting at a Jewish festival in Bondi last month. The attack left 15 people dead. The government says they need to do more to stop such violence. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke talked about the need to address both the reasons behind the attack and the tools used. The new laws include a national gun buyback program. This means the government will pay people to give up their guns. They also want to make background checks stricter. This includes looking into information from Australia's intelligence agency.Australia has a lot of guns. Last year, there were over 4 million firearms in the country. New South Wales, where the Bondi attack happened, has more than 1. 1 million guns. The government says this is too many. New South Wales already passed some new gun laws. Now, people can only own four guns, and farmers can have up to 10. Gun licenses also need to be renewed every two years instead of five. Not everyone supports these changes. The conservative opposition says the government isn't doing enough to fight hate speech. They think the new laws don't go far enough. The government is also working on other laws. They want to make it easier to punish hate speech. This is all part of their response to the Bondi attack.