Two gunmen killed at least 15 people and injured at least 29 in an antisemitic attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia—an explosion of gun violence particularly shocking in a nation with strict gun control laws and has a gun homicide rate that’s 62 times lower than that of the United States.
Key Takeaways
- There were almost 47,000 firearms-related deaths in the United States in 2023, the most recent year with available data from Pew Research Center, for an average rate of 13.7 deaths per 100,000 people.
- Of those, about 18,000 were gun-related homicides, for a rate of 5.6 gun murders per 100,000 people that year.
- During a comparable period (July 2023 through June 2024) Australia saw only 31 gun-related murders, a homicide rate of 0.09 gun murders per 100,000 people, according to data from the Australian Institute of Criminology.
- There have been 391 mass shootings verified in the U.S. in 2025 as of December 14, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, while Australia recorded relatively few after passing gun control laws following the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.
News Peg
The deadly attack in Sydney took place at a Hanukkah celebration on Sunday at the city’s Bondi Beach. One of the gunmen was shot and killed at the scene, while a second was taken into custody by police.
Video footage that circulated on social media depicted a bystander tackling and disarming one of the gunmen during the attack.
Australian media identified the bystander as Ahmed al Ahmed, and New South Wales Premier Chris Minns commended him as a “genuine hero.” The bystander was also shot twice during the encounter and will need surgery. The attack follows an alarming rise in antisemitic incidents and violence in Australia since the war in Gaza broke out in 2023, Reuters reported.
Key Background
Australia passed strict gun control laws after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, when a shooter killed 35 people in the Tasmanian city. In the aftermath, the Australian government banned semi-automatic long rifles, pump-action shotguns and higher capacity magazines through its National Firearms Agreement, which also established heavy standards for gun ownership and storage. Australians also surrendered more than 700,000 firearms through a massive buyback program.
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