Radio host Kyle Sandilands has joined growing calls for security guards to be armed with firearms in Australia following two stabbing incidents that have rocked Sydney.
Six people died before police shot dead Joel Cauchi, 40, from Queensland, during the terrifying rampage at Westfield Bondi Junction on Saturday afternoon.
Among the victims was Faraz Tahir, a security guard at the mall, while another guard was injured during the attack.
Cauchi’s estranged family said he had struggled with mental health issues for decades.
Two days later, a 16-year-old boy was arrested after stabbing a bishop and a second clergyman with a knife during a sermon at a Sydney church.
Radio host Kyle Sandilands has joined growing calls for security guards to be armed with firearms in Australia following two stabbing incidents that rocked Sydney.
Sandilands, whose wife Tegan, Tegan’s aunt, was stabbed during the Westfield attack, went on a rampage against the government during a rant on Tuesday’s Kyle And Jackie O Show, asking why security guards are not properly armed. to protect us.
‘Last night I saw the Prime Minister (Chris Minns) on TV saying that firearms for security guards were not on the agenda. And I said, “Well, what has to happen before a security guard can secure the place?” Sandilands fumed.
‘Every shopping center and every school should have armed security guards, trained specialists, not just a guy who gets a little firearms license. I mean, with the right training.
Six people died before police shot dead Joel Cauchi, 40, from Queensland, during the terrifying rampage at Westfield Bondi Junction on Saturday afternoon.
Two days later, a 16-year-old boy was arrested after stabbing a bishop and a second clergyman with a knife during a sermon at a Sydney church.
Most retail security staff in New South Wales are unarmed, baton-wielding and classified as prohibited weapons requiring special licensing and training.
‘There are people who work at Westfield, for example, women who work in shops who have told their husband: ‘I will never go back to Westfield.’ “I will never work again,” Sandilands continued, adding that those retail workers are “forever traumatized” following Saturday’s stabbings.
He went on to express his hardline views on how Australia should deal with violent and mentally ill people who pose a threat to society.
Last night I saw the Prime Minister on TV saying that firearms for security guards were not on the agenda. And I thought, ‘Well, what has to happen before a security guard can secure the place?’ Sandilands fumed.
‘Enough of being nice and letting the loons run among us. Let’s round them up, lock them up and give them the treatment.’
Sandilands co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson pointed out that it can be too difficult to identify such people, asking: “But how do you know who’s who?”
‘You can say!’ Sandilands exclaimed and added: ‘Look around you: half the people on the train are deranged!’
Faraz Tahir, 30 (pictured), tragically lost his life while serving the public as a security guard during the Westfield attack. He was a refugee from Pakistan.
Sandilands’ views have been echoed by fellow veteran broadcaster Ray Hadley, who on Monday demanded on his 2GB radio show in Sydney that security guards be armed across the state.
“For years I have argued that all state security guards in hospitals and shopping malls should be better equipped,” he said.
“Especially in hospitals, in the madness of the weekend, where drug addicts want to attack doctors and nurses.”
“And these poor security guards, unarmed, unable to do what they should do: protect the people they are supposed to protect.”
‘At a minimum, they need capsicum spray and even Tasers after they have been fully trained in their use.
He demanded NSW Premier Chris Minns take urgent action now after the premier announced an independent coronial inquiry into the Bondi Junction stabbings.
“I heard Minns say we’ll wait until the coroner’s inquest.” Minns, you don’t need a new query. “You need to make sure that security guards can keep people safe in some way,” Hadley told listeners.
‘They must act immediately against unarmed security guards in areas such as shopping malls and hospitals. We don’t need an investigation.
Mass killings are rare in the country of about 27 million people, which has some of the strictest gun and knife laws in the world.