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On Sunday night Australians woke up to the same horror too many of us have seen elsewhere: gunmen opening fire at a public celebration. The attack at Bondi Beach struck a Hanukkah event and left scores dead and wounded, with one attacker killed and another in custody as authorities declared the incident a terrorist act.
Officials say the slaughter was deliberate and targeted at Sydney’s Jewish community, and the federal government has convened national security meetings in response. Police and political leaders scrambled to contain the scene as emergency crews treated dozens of victims, while the prime minister urged solidarity and calm.
Investigators have already found improvised explosive devices near the bridge used by the shooters and are piecing together how the assailants coordinated their attack while a crowded festival scattered in panic. Early reporting names one suspect and confirms key community leaders among the victims, underscoring that this was not random violence but a planned act of terror.
And now the inevitable question: how did these killers get their hands on the weapons? Australian officials have acknowledged they are probing how the firearms were acquired, with some lawmakers pointing to semiautomatic shotguns as part of the evidence and demanding strong answers from Canberra.
Any honest conservative has to say what the left refuses to admit — strict laws on paper are only as good as the enforcement and the borders that stop illegal arms from flowing in. Australians famously tightened gun laws after Port Arthur, but criminal networks and black markets never disappeared; disarming law-abiding citizens while failing to choke off illicit supply lines is not safety, it is surrender.
This is also a failure of security policy and cultural clarity. When governments preach softness toward extremism, when public institutions tiptoe around hard truths about radicalization and fail to resource policing and intelligence adequately, the first casualties are the innocent. Leaders must stop offering platitudes and start delivering results: tougher enforcement, better intelligence sharing, and a zero-tolerance posture toward organized violent extremism.
We should praise the brave civilians and first responders who pulled people to safety and even disarmed a shooter under fire — their courage saved lives and showed that ordinary people will not cower. But bravery is not a strategy; responsible self-defence, sensible training, and community security measures deserve support from governments that claim to protect their citizens.
In the coming days Australians should demand accountability from elected officials of every stripe: explain how weapons were sourced, close loopholes, crush criminal trafficking, and back communities targeted by hate with real security. Our sympathies are with the victims and their families, and our policy response must be clear and unflinching — there will be no excuses, only action.
