Following the Port Arthur Massacre 30 years ago, Australians faced a moment of national reckoning. The choice the country made was to safeguard itself from mass gun violence by preventing the public from being able to purchase automatic and semi-automatic weapons. These laws proved incredibly successful in preventing such violence from occurring in the country. 

And then this week violence and death on an horrendous scale returned to Australia with the slaughter of 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney. 

Now the country faces a new national reckoning – not only because the weapons used in the attack were legal and one of the perpetrators licensed, but because the motivation behind the attack struck at the heart of the idea of modern Australia. 

The violence directly targeted Australia’s Jewish community, but indirectly it targeted the country as a whole. It was an attack on the kind of society the vast majority of the country wants to be – open, respectful, friendly, and trusting – but a small number of people cannot accept. Although their numbers are small, this week they have proved that they can do enormous damage when given the chance. 

Two new responses are........

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