Two Pakistani migrants opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach. They killed 15 people. They wounded 40 more. They were inspired by ISIS.
Australia’s response? Punish gun owners who had nothing to do with it.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced plans Friday for mass firearm confiscation, expecting to collect and destroy “hundreds of thousands” of guns from law-abiding Australians.
The terrorists were the problem. Australian citizens will pay the price.
This is gun control logic in its purest, most deranged form.
The Terrorist Had a License — So Everyone Loses Theirs
Albanese’s justification is breathtaking in its absurdity:
“We know that one of the terrorists from the weekend’s attack held a firearm licence and had six guns. There is no reason someone living in the suburbs of Sydney needed this many guns.”
One terrorist had a license. Therefore, millions of law-abiding gun owners must surrender their property.
By this logic, we should ban cars because terrorists use them to run people over. We should ban knives because terrorists use them to stab people. We should ban pressure cookers because terrorists use them to make bombs.
The terrorist obtained guns legally under Australia’s already-strict system. The system failed. Albanese’s solution? Make the system stricter for everyone except terrorists.
“Finish the Job” — The 1996 Confiscation Wasn’t Enough
Albanese invoked the 1996 Port Arthur massacre and the gun confiscation that followed:
“Sunday’s deadly ISIS inspired antisemitic terrorist attack at Bondi Beach highlights the need to finish the job the Howard Government started on gun reform.”
“Finish the job.”
Australia already banned semi-automatic firearms. They already conducted a mass “buyback” (confiscation with payment). They already implemented strict licensing.
And there are now more guns in private hands than in 1996. Over 4 million firearms.
So the previous confiscation didn’t work. It didn’t reduce the number of guns. It didn’t prevent this terrorist attack.
Albanese’s solution? Do it again, but harder.
The New Restrictions
Here’s what Albanese is proposing:
- Limits on how many firearms a person can own
- Restricting firearms licenses to Australian citizens only
- “Additional use of criminal intelligence” to determine license eligibility
- Mass confiscation with “hundreds of thousands” of firearms destroyed
That last item — “criminal intelligence” for licensing — should terrify anyone who values civil liberties. What counts as disqualifying intelligence? Who decides? What appeal process exists?
Australia is building a system where the government can deny gun rights based on secret information you can’t challenge.
A Survivor Was Prevented From Fighting Back
Here’s a detail that deserves more attention.
A Bondi Beach survivor reported that police prevented her from fighting back against the terrorists.
Think about that. While terrorists were murdering Jews at a Hanukkah celebration, authorities stopped a potential victim from defending herself.
This is the gun control mentality in action. Civilians are helpless subjects who must wait for the state to save them. Self-defense is prohibited. Your life depends on how quickly police arrive.
At Bondi Beach, police did arrive relatively quickly. One terrorist was killed, one wounded. But 15 people were already dead and 40 wounded.
How many might have survived if civilians had been armed?
Democrats Love Australia’s Model
American Democrats have long cited Australia’s gun confiscation as a model for the United States.
“Many Democrats have cited Australia’s sweeping gun ban following a 1996 mass shooting… as a model response to mass shootings,” the Daily Caller notes.
They use the euphemism “assault weapons” to make confiscation sound reasonable. They point to Australia’s gun statistics without mentioning that overall violent crime didn’t decrease.
Now Australia is proving what that model actually means: Every tragedy becomes an excuse for more confiscation. There’s no end point. There’s no level of restriction that satisfies them.
Australia banned semi-automatics in 1996. Almost 30 years later, they’re coming for whatever’s left.
24 Million “Modern Sporting Rifles” in America
The National Shooting Sports Foundation estimates over 24 million AR-15s and similar rifles are “in circulation” in the United States.
That’s just one category of firearm. Total civilian firearms in America number over 400 million.
Australian-style confiscation in America would be logistically impossible. It would also be constitutionally prohibited. And it would be met with resistance that would make the situation far worse.
American gun owners look at Australia and see exactly why the Second Amendment matters. When the government decides your rights are inconvenient, they come for them. Piece by piece. Tragedy by tragedy.
The Real Problem Gets Ignored
Bondi Beach wasn’t a gun control failure. It was a terrorism failure.
Two Pakistani migrants, inspired by ISIS, targeted Jews celebrating a religious holiday. This was antisemitic terrorism — the same kind of hatred that’s been rising across the Western world.
How did these individuals get into Australia? What was their immigration status? What did intelligence services know about their radicalization? Why wasn’t ISIS-inspired extremism detected?
Albanese isn’t asking those questions. He’s not announcing immigration restrictions. He’s not proposing enhanced monitoring of radical Islamist activity.
He’s confiscating guns from people who didn’t kill anyone.
“No Reason Someone Living in the Suburbs… Needed This Many Guns”
Albanese’s statement reveals the authoritarian mindset:
“There is no reason someone living in the suburbs of Sydney needed this many guns.”
Who decides what you “need”? The government. What counts as a valid need? Whatever the government says.
Sport shooting? Not a need. Hunting? Not if you live in the suburbs. Self-defense? Australia doesn’t recognize that as a legitimate reason to own firearms.
The concept of rights — things you possess regardless of demonstrated “need” — is foreign to this mindset. Everything is a privilege, granted or revoked at government discretion.
Americans sometimes forget how unusual our constitutional framework is. Most countries don’t recognize the right to bear arms. They treat gun ownership as a privilege that can be withdrawn whenever politicians decide it’s convenient.
Bondi Beach just made it convenient.
The Pattern Is Clear
Every mass casualty event — regardless of cause — becomes an argument for more gun control.
Terrorist attack? Gun control.
Criminal shooting? Gun control.
Mental health crisis? Gun control.
The cause doesn’t matter. The solution is always the same. And the solution never works, which just proves they need more of it.
Australia has had strict gun control for nearly 30 years. They’re about to get stricter. And when the next tragedy happens — because tragedies always happen — they’ll get stricter still.
There is no amount of gun control that satisfies gun controllers. There is no restriction that’s enough. There is no confiscation that finishes the job.
American Gun Owners: Watch and Learn
What’s happening in Australia is what Democrats want for America.
The AR-15 ban is just the starting point. Then it’s “assault weapon” buybacks. Then it’s limits on how many guns you can own. Then it’s “criminal intelligence” reviews for licensing.
The end point is what Albanese just announced: mass confiscation of “hundreds of thousands” of firearms from people who did nothing wrong.
Terrorists murdered Jews at a Hanukkah celebration. Law-abiding gun owners will pay the price.
That’s gun control logic. That’s the Australian model. And that’s exactly why Americans cling to their Second Amendment rights.
Once you let them start, they never stop.
