SYDNEY, Australia — A gunman was shot dead by the police on Wednesday after an hourlong shooting spree across western Sydney that targeted a home and two police stations.

The police said the man, firing a shotgun in the middle of a busy suburb, wounded several officers, including one who suffered a head injury.

The shooting comes at a time of rising concern among gun control advocates in Australia who have been arguing for years that the country’s strict gun laws — passed after a mass shooting in 1996 — have been weakened over time by a small but powerful gun lobby.

Gun ownership has increased over the past 20 years, with roughly 3.2 million firearms in circulation, according to gunpolicy.org, and recent reports have shown that gun owners now have more guns — about 3.9 guns each compared with 2.1 guns in 1997.