When tragedy strikes, a familiar script plays out. We no longer see unity, but rather exploitation. A horrific loss becomes a political opportunity, and grief turns instantly into emotional blackmail. “You never let a serious crisis go to waste,” Barack Obama’s former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel once said. “And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” Democrats follow that mantra to the letter.
The reflex is predictable, the rhetoric preloaded, the agenda set before police tape even hits the ground. Every call for “action” hides a story about power, control, and the illusion of safety. After the Brown University shooting that killed two students and wounded nine, Democrats jumped in with their same tired gun-control playbook. Former Rep. Gabby Giffords fired off a statement before cops even pieced together basic facts, demanding Congress do something about the "five alarm fire" of guns killing kids.
Giffords lamented, “My heart breaks for Brown University. Students should only have to worry about studying for finals right now, not hiding from gunfire. Guns are the leading cause of death for young people in America — this is a five alarm fire and our leaders in Washington have ignored it for too long. Americans are tired of waiting around for Congress to decide that protecting kids matters.”
Police were still hunting a shooter when Giffords reflexively pushed for more restrictions. This knee-jerk response ignores reality: criminals and terrorists don't follow laws, and strict controls fail to stop bloodshed.
Look at Australia, the left's favorite poster child for gun control success. After the 1996 Port Arthur massacre claimed 35 lives, leaders rammed through the National Firearms Agreement. They banned semi-automatic and automatic weapons, slapped on mandatory licensing, enforced ironclad storage rules, and required buyers to prove a "genuine reason" like hunting—no self-defense allowed. Politicians crowed about ending mass shootings, and sure, those incidents dropped in the immediate years after. But what they won’t tell you is that violent crime rates barely budged. That shows the laws targeted law-abiding owners, while criminals adapted.
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Fast-forward to today, and Australia's anti-gun regime crumbled. On the first night of Hanukkah, two gunmen in black stormed a "Hanukkah at the Beach" event at Sydney's Bondi Beach around 5:30 p.m. local time. They mowed down a joyful Jewish crowd, killing 11 and wounding 29 in the second-worst mass shooting in Aussie history. Cops identified one attacker as Naveed Akram, a 24-year-old from Sydney's Bonnyrigg known to authorities. ASIO head Mike Burgess admitted one suspect was on their radar, but "not in an immediate-threat perspective." Police gunned down one terrorist on site; the other lies in critical condition under guard.
Naturally, the New York Times is running interference for Australia with an article headlined, “Mass Shootings Are Rare in Australia, Which Has Strict Gun Laws,” while noting that “American supporters of gun control, including former President Barack Obama, have pointed to Australia’s strict regulations as a guide to limiting such events in the United States.”
Jeremy Leibler, president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, told the Times of Israel he's “trying to process what impact this is going to have on the Jewish community of Australia.”
He added, “This may be the worst attack on Jews anywhere in the world since October 7, and it’s the second-worst mass shooting in Australian history. I don’t know what happens now.”
Gun control fanatics peddle the myth that bans equal safety, but the Bondi Beach shooting shreds that fantasy. Australia surrendered a million firearms after Port Arthur, and that didn’t stop today’s tragedy. Pretending gun control makes you safe is a deadly misconception. Democrats' endless calls for restrictions disarm the innocent and embolden thugs. Evil finds a way, laws or no laws.
