We're often told that mass shootings are a "uniquely American" thing, which is absolute nonsense. They happen all over the world. They just happen here more often, even if you use a reasonable definition of "mass shooting" compared to some websites.
However, we've also been told that if we adopt Australian-style gun control, we won't have to worry about them.
Bondi Beach gave lie to that one, but anyone can chalk something like that up to an isolated event. Sure, it happened, but it's not like they're common, right?
Well...I wouldn't be so quick to say that.
Three people were killed following a shooting on Thursday in a rural town in the Australian state of New South Wales, the police said.
Emergency services were called to the town, Lake Cargelligo, about 379 miles west of Sydney, at 4:40 p.m. after reports of a shooting.
“Three people — two women and a man — have died,” the New South Wales police said in a statement.
A fourth person, a man, was taken to the hospital in serious condition. Police urged the public to go indoors.
It's believed the suspect is holed up in the town, though no specifics have been given to suggest that law enforcement knows where that would be. It's also believed he's armed, though four people being shot, three fatally, does give ample evidence of that fact.
This happened sometime Thursday evening, Eastern time, apparently, and while stories have been updated since then, all the reports I could find have been spotty with the details.
In a bit of dark irony, Thursday was also a national day of mourning for those killed at Bondi Beach.
Clearly, not everyone was appreciative of that fact.
Right now, we don't know the details of the shooting. What we do know, though, is that three people are dead, another wounded, in a country that we're told repeatedly doesn't have to deal with this sort of thing. Yet here we are, talking about this, which happened on a day of remembrance for the victims in the Bondi attack.
Maybe it's just me, but this doesn't sound like it's all that uncommon. Not anymore.
Australia has had plenty of mass shootings since the Port Arthur massacre. Nothing like Bondi Beach, but they had them. Now, they've had two significant, high-profile shootings within less than six weeks.
It's too early to say this is some kind of trend, especially when we don't know the details of this one yet, but it's enough to make it so no one should be so quick to just accept the narrative that Australia's gun control laws are the perfect fix for what ails the United States.
We can't even be sure it fixed Australia at this point, and the two countries aren't exactly the same. Sure, we can talk to one another without too many problems so long as we avoid the slang, but we're miles apart in other ways. To say their laws would fix our issues is silly.
Again, the fact that this happened so soon after Bondi Beach means we can't even assume it fixed their issues.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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