Virtually earlier than the our bodies had been chilly at Australia’s Bondi Seashore, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his colleagues had been speaking about stricter gun management legal guidelines, together with limits on the variety of licensed firearms an Australian citizen may personal, and stopping non-citizens from getting a gun license.
Amid the anguish, there have been some social media sneers at Individuals for the variety of mass shootings reported within the U.S., most of which occur in so-called “gun-free zones,” the place the victims are simply as disarmed as those that died on the Hannukkah celebration in Sydney.
However Albanese and his cheerleaders may study one thing from us Yanks, and from Jews in Israel, the place the specter of violence hovers over the inhabitants each single day.
Proponents of Australian-style disarmament intentionally ignore, or considerably downplay, the opposite facet of this dilemma. Fifteen of Albanese’s countrymen are lifeless as a result of they may not struggle again.
Right here’s a quick refresher of current historical past to place this in perspective:
Again on Sept. 8 in East Jerusalem, two Palestinian killers opened fireplace at a bus station, viciously gunning down greater than 20 folks, killing six of them, till a minimum of two folks, together with an armed non-public citizen, returned fireplace. Each attackers had been fatally shot. The armed civilian was joined by an off-duty soldier within the armed response.
What number of lives might need been saved had Australians been capable of struggle again, as their contemporaries half a world away?
When CBS Information reported the East Jerusalem capturing, it waited till the sixth paragraph to say how the assault was stopped. When the BBC initially reported the mass capturing, it famous the off-duty soldier and armed civilian “neutralized” the attackers.
Soar again in time to July 17, 2022 when a crazed killer opened fireplace within the meals court docket on the Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, Indiana. Armed with a rifle, the gunman fatally shot two folks and certain would have upped the rating, apart from the short actions of 22-year-old Elijah Dicken, a legally-armed non-public citizen who—firing from a distance estimated at 40 yards—put eight of the ten pictures he fired into the assassin, ending the rampage.
This incident occurred barely two months after an armed feminine citizen in Charleston, West Virginia put an finish to what may have been a lethal mass capturing by a person recognized as 37-year-old Dennis Butler. As reported by WRAL Information on the time, Butler’s misadventure began with him “dashing up and down a car parking zone” inside an condo advanced the place folks had been attending a commencement occasion and party. Once they requested him to decelerate, he left after which returned to up the sport, armed with a semi-automatic rifle, with which he opened fireplace.
However the unidentified armed citizen drew her legally carried handgun and stopped him, chilly.
Lt. Tony Hazelett, with the Charleston Police Division, instructed reporters on the time, “This woman was carrying a lawful firearm. A legislation abiding citizen who stopped the specter of in all probability 20 or 30 folks getting killed. She engaged the risk and stopped it. She didn’t run from the risk, she engaged it. Stopping a mass casualty occasion right here in Charleston.”
Again in Might of this 12 months, a legally armed non-public citizen fatally shot a teen gunman who had simply opened fireplace on two different folks in downtown Seattle. In response to KING Information, the younger shooter—illegally armed with a handgun below Washington statute—was leaving the scene when the 57-year-old armed citizen drew his handgun and fired.
In early November, once more in downtown Seattle, a pair of armed would-be carjackers made what firearms authority Massad Ayoob may name a vital error within the sufferer choice course of. They tried to steal a sports activities automobile at gunpoint, solely to be shot by the automobile’s proprietor. As reported by KOMO Information on the time, each suspects ended up in the identical hospital—one was dumped there by two different suspects, who rapidly fled—whereas police arrested the opposite wounded man who was transported to the hospital.
When golf professional Phil Mickelson posted a message on ‘X’ concerning the Bondi Seashore mass capturing, he noticed, “The two terrorists didn’t appear affected by the strict gun legal guidelines already in place. In truth the capturing went on for a very long time since there wasn’t anyone else with a gun to cease them. I’m not a giant gun man however even I’m not this dumb to imagine what this man is promoting.”
The two terrorists didn’t appear affected by the strict gun legal guidelines already in place. In truth the capturing went on for a very long time since there wasn’t anyone else with a gun to cease them. I’m not a giant gun man however even I’m not this dumb to imagine what this man is promoting. https://t.co/9MtXTHxRCF
— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) December 16, 2025
He’s catching numerous warmth from anti-gunners, however self-defense-oriented persons are coming to his protection with remarks together with:
“If Australia had a proper to bear arms then this assault wouldn’t have even began.”
“Each these killers would have been straightforward pickins if that they had hid carry over there. They didn’t even attempt to conceal.”
“Civilians bravely tried to cease the assailants – even with out firearms – what armed police on the scene didn’t. Two had been killed outright and one wounded for the try. Even a couple of armed civilians with weapons might need had a preventing probability to restrict the tragedy.”
It’s true that mass shootings in Australia are uncommon, however once they occur, no person can struggle again. Issues are completely different within the U.S. and Israel.
Politicians like Prime Minister Albanese have armed safety, whereas the folks on Bondi Seashore didn’t have that luxurious. Residents in Israel can get gun permits and might struggle again. Hundreds of thousands of residents within the U.S. can legally carry, they usually have fought again.
Australia’s strict gun legal guidelines didn’t forestall the Bondi Seashore mayhem. There’s a lesson in that for Prime Minister Albanese.
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, creator of a number of books on the Proper to Preserve & Bear Arms, and previously an NRA-certified firearms teacher.
