Australians Could Learn Something from the United States

Almost before the bodies were cold at Australia’s Bondi Beach, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his colleagues were talking about stricter gun control laws, including limits on the number of licensed firearms an Australian citizen could own, and preventing non-citizens from getting a gun license.

Amid the anguish, there were some social media sneers at Americans for the number of mass shootings reported in the U.S., most of which happen in so-called “gun-free zones,” where the victims are just as disarmed as those who died at the Hannukkah celebration in Sydney.

But Albanese and his cheerleaders could learn something from us Yanks, and from Jews in Israel, where the threat of violence hovers over the population every single day.

Proponents of Australian-style disarmament deliberately ignore, or significantly downplay, the other side of this dilemma. Fifteen of Albanese’s countrymen are dead because they could not fight back.

Here’s a brief refresher of recent history to put this in perspective:

Back on Sept. 8 in East Jerusalem, two Palestinian killers opened fire at a bus station, viciously gunning down more than 20 people, killing six of them, until at least two people, including an armed private citizen, returned fire. Both attackers were fatally shot. The armed civilian was joined by an off-duty soldier in the armed response.

How many lives might have been saved had Australians been able to fight back, as their contemporaries half a world away?

When CBS News reported the East Jerusalem shooting, it waited until the sixth paragraph to mention how the attack was stopped. When the BBC initially reported the mass shooting, it noted the off-duty soldier and armed civilian “neutralized” the attackers.

Jump back in time to July 17, 2022 when a crazed killer opened fire in the food court at the Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, Indiana. Armed with a rifle, the gunman fatally shot two people and likely would have upped the score, except for the quick actions of 22-year-old Elijah Dicken, a legally-armed private citizen who—firing from a distance estimated at 40 yards—put eight of the ten shots he fired into the murderer, ending the rampage.

This incident happened barely two months after an armed female citizen in Charleston, West Virginia put an end to what could have been a deadly mass shooting by a man identified as 37-year-old Dennis Butler. As reported by WRAL News at the time, Butler’s misadventure started with him “speeding up and down a parking lot” inside an apartment complex where people were attending a graduation party and birthday party. When they asked him to slow down, he left and then returned to up the game, armed with a semi-automatic rifle, with which he opened fire.

But the unidentified armed citizen drew her legally carried handgun and stopped him, cold.

Lt. Tony Hazelett, with the Charleston Police Department, told reporters at the time, “This lady was carrying a lawful firearm. A law abiding citizen who stopped the threat of probably 20 or 30 people getting killed. She engaged the threat and stopped it. She didn’t run from the threat, she engaged it. Preventing a mass casualty event here in Charleston.”

Back in May of this year, a legally armed private citizen fatally shot a teen gunman who had just opened fire on two other people in downtown Seattle. According to KING News, the young shooter—illegally armed with a handgun under Washington statute—was leaving the scene when the 57-year-old armed citizen drew his handgun and fired.

In early November, again in downtown Seattle, a pair of armed would-be carjackers made what firearms authority Massad Ayoob might call a critical error in the victim selection process. They attempted to steal a sports car at gunpoint, only to be shot by the car’s owner. As reported by KOMO News at the time, both suspects ended up in the same hospital—one was dumped there by two other suspects, who quickly fled—while police arrested the other wounded man who was transported to the hospital.

When golf pro Phil Mickelson posted a message on ‘X’ about the Bondi Beach mass shooting, he observed, “The 2 terrorists didn’t seem affected by the strict gun laws already in place. In fact the shooting went on for a long time since there wasn’t anybody else with a gun to stop them. I’m not a big gun guy but even I’m not this dumb to believe what this guy is selling.”

The 2 terrorists didn’t seem affected by the strict gun laws already in place. In fact the shooting went on for a long time since there wasn’t anybody else with a gun to stop them. I’m not a big gun guy but even I’m not this dumb to believe what this guy is selling. https://t.co/9MtXTHxRCF

— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) December 16, 2025

He is catching lots of heat from anti-gunners, but self-defense-oriented people are coming to his defense with remarks including:

• “If Australia had a right to bear arms then this attack would not have even started.”
• “Both those killers would have been easy pickins if they had concealed carry over there. They didn’t even try to hide.”
• “Civilians bravely tried to stop the assailants – even without firearms – what armed police on the scene failed to. Two were killed outright and one wounded for the attempt. Even a few armed civilians with guns might have had a fighting chance to limit the tragedy.”

It is true that mass shootings in Australia are rare, but when they happen, nobody can fight back. Things are different in the U.S. and Israel.

Politicians like Prime Minister Albanese have armed security, while the people on Bondi Beach did not have that luxury. Citizens in Israel can get gun permits and can fight back. Millions of citizens in the U.S. can legally carry, and they have fought back.

Australia’s strict gun laws didn’t prevent the Bondi Beach 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, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.