Two mass shootings, two responses: Australia acts while America accepts | Opinion
Last weekend, two very different and horrific mass shootings unfolded in two countries across the world from each other. The aftermath couldn’t be more different.
One occurred in a country where this is a rarity, and Australia is already responding to the devastation with calls to strengthen gun laws. The other occurred in the United States where mass shootings are so commonplace we have grown so numb to the repeated drumbeat of death by gun violence that it feels as if we will never be free of it.
America has become inured to the horrific casualties from gun violence and the death that stalks our public places of worship, education and community gathering, that our response is similarly muted: We feel profound grief, but not the action required for change.
It’s not too late to learn from tragedy.
The first mass shooting was on Saturday in Rhode Island at Brown University. Two students were killed and nine wounded on the Ivy League campus when an unknown gunman attacked a final exam review session inside a university building. There is currently no suspect in custody, and no known motive.
FBI director Kash Patel openly live-tweeted the incident and announced publicly that a suspect had been arrested. Ultimately, that person was released without evidence, and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha publicly criticized Patel, saying it was “unfortunate that this person’s name was leaked to the public.”
It marked the 408th mass shooting in America this year — and three more have occurred in this country since then — a total of 405 people killed, and 1,828 injured in 2025. U.S. President Donald Trump’s response was, in part: “Things can happen. So to the nine injured — get well fast.”
The second event occurred the next day at a Hanukkah celebration on Australia’s famous Bondi Beach near Sydney. A father and son shot and killed 15 people and injured an additional 42 people. The older gunman was killed by police during the event, and the younger was arrested at the scene.
It was only the second mass shooting in Australia this year; the first occurred in October, wounding 18 (including the gunman) and resulted in no deaths. Before that event, the country had not seen a mass shooting in nearly three years.
Within hours, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had called for stronger gun control laws, publicly describing the event as “shocking and distressing” and “an act of pure evil… on our shores.”
Can you spot the difference?
Australia’s response to mass shootings is everything America’s response ought to be. While no country’s laws can completely halt acts of terrorism or mass casualties, it’s clear that countries with strong gun laws can make mass shootings incredibly rare.
America has not enacted anywhere near the same federal gun laws, and every year, thousands of Americans — men, women and children — pay the price for it.
Even in California, which ranks No. 1 in the nation for gun safety laws by Everytown For Gun Safety, a non-profit organization that advocates for gun control, the number of gun deaths per 100,000 people each year hovers around 8. In Mississippi, which ranks 49th in gun safety laws, the gun violence rate is closer to 29 per 100,000 people. (The national average is approximately 14.) And in the eight years between 2015 and 2022, reports Everytown, more than 19,000 people have been shot and killed or wounded in the U.S. in a mass shooting.
From July 2023 through June 2024, Australia saw only 31 gun-related murders, according to Forbes Magazine. The Australian Institute of Criminology reports a homicide rate of 0.09 gun murders per 100,000 people.
Australia achieved this by taking action on gun control nearly 30 years ago.
In 1996, a mass casualty shooting known as the Port Arthur Massacre killed 35 people and wounded 23 others in the Australian state of Tasmania. The country’s horrified response led to fundamental changes in the nation’s gun laws, and leaders quickly moved to restrict private ownership of semi-automatic rifles and shotguns. They also introduced nationwide firearms licensing requirements.
In the wake of the Bondi Beach shooting, Australians are once again questioning how they can move to tighten their gun laws so that such an event can never happen again. On Monday morning, officials proposed legislation that would restrict gun ownership to only Australian citizens.
“Anthony Albanese’s first responsibility after the horrific Bondi terror attack is to lead a grieving nation. His next will be to explain how this happened,” wrote the Australian ABC news outlet.
In America, we don’t need to look to our nation’s leader for an explanation of how it happened. We know it will happen again, likely too many times to count.
But America’s deep, stubborn will against any logical or sensible gun control is what keeps us stuck in this cycle. If we don’t let these events radicalize us — like Port Arthur radicalized Australia — to take action, then we will never escape it. We must not become numb to the grief, loss and horror of gun violence.
This story was originally published December 16, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
