Demand for guns has surged in the wake of Bondi – what will it take to make Australia safer?

‘Rather than cutting the number of guns, the Bondi attack could result in even more in the community.’ Photograph: Dean Lewins/EPA

Something strange has happened on the fraught issue of gun ownership in Australia in the past few months.

In the wake of December’s horrific antisemitic Bondi beach attack, prime minister Anthony Albanese and state and territory leaders announced a national gun buyback program, dubbed the biggest push to reduce the number of weapons in the community since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.