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Golf legend Phil Mickelson has spoken out about the recent shooting at Bondi Beach, Australia, on Ha’s first day, which killed two students and injured others.
Mickelson, in an article on
“The two terrorists seemed unaffected by the strict gun laws already in place. In fact, the shooting lasted a long time because there was no one else with a gun to stop them. I’m not a big gunsmith, but even I’m not that stupid to believe what this guy is selling,” Mickelson wrote. “Prayers to the victims and their families.”
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Phil Mickelson ponders a question during a news conference Monday, June 13, 2022, at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass., prior to the U.S. Open golf tournament. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Australia has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world, established primarily by the National Firearms Agreement (NFA) of 1996.
The NFA banned most semi-automatic rifles and shotguns, which were bought back and destroyed under a government-funded program. Firearms are categorized, with military-style weapons being heavily regulated or banned. Meanwhile, obtaining a gun in the country requires safety training, written tests, and criminal background and mental health checks.
Mickelson then responded to an X user who shared a statistic that Australia experiences zero to one mass shooting per year, under the country’s gun laws.
“That’s an excellent point,” Mickelson wrote. “I am always open to new ideas and new facts. I am not always right and I am always open to new perspectives. However, I am not sure how to implement this in the United States, given our constitution.”
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Mickelson also addressed the recent mass shooting at Brown University that took the lives of two students, again sharing a poster of the FBI’s search for the suspect.
“Let’s find this guy,” Mickelson wrote.
Australian authorities have identified the shooters in the Bondi Beach shooting as a 50-year-old father and a 24-year-old son. The father was killed at the scene, while the son was shot by police and taken to hospital in critical condition. Australian authorities also said the shooters had improvised explosives and homemade IS flags in their vehicle.
On Sunday, the two men opened fire on families celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach, killing 15 people and wounding more than two dozen. The Australian government is investigating the incident as a terrorist attack targeting the Jewish community.
During the deadly rampage, another bystander, Ahmed al Ahmed, an Australian immigrant, snatched a gun from one of the shooters. His lawyer said Ahmed did not regret intervening, although he was “riddled with bullets” and in intense pain.
Bystanders were seen on video confronting a gunman before his deadly ISIS-inspired shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, could start.
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Despite their efforts to disarm him, the shooter ultimately overpowered the two bystanders and killed them, authorities said.
The bystanders were later identified as Boris and Sofia Gurman, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The outlet reported that the Gurmans were passing by when they saw the attacker getting out of a vehicle. Although Boris had the upper hand for a while after grabbing the gunman’s rifle, the attacker reportedly picked up another rifle during the confrontation and shot the couple dead, making them the first victims of the massacre.
