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Following the tragedy of the horrific attack at Bondi, Australia is facing several critical reckonings. There is a much-needed national spotlight on antisemitism, an persistent concern about public safety, and questions about how such an event could happen. But, as viewed of a health professional and Australian Jew, the paramount discussion we are now having revolves around firearms.

Ten Years of Cautions and a Successful Solution

Public health specialists have been issuing warnings about firearms for a minimum of a ten-year period. Following the events of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians came together and implemented a series of measures to curb gun violence across the country. The strategy succeeded. Before 1996, the nation witnessed roughly one mass shooting per year. Over the following years, there have been vanishingly few significant tragedies, with none reaching the death toll of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Attack and the Role of Existing Laws

Even during the Bondi events, the nation's firearm regulations were not entirely useless. Reports indicate the alleged attackers possessed with manually-operated long guns and a straight-pull shotgun. These weapons are limited to firing a one round at a time, requiring a physical action to ready the next round. While these guns can be fired quite quickly with lethal results, they remain significantly less rapid and more cumbersome than the high-capacity, self-loading rifles commonplace in international mass shootings. The number of deaths at Bondi would've been far higher if more advanced weapons had been available.

Preventing another Bondi demands national cohesion. And unfortunately, there are already fissures in the united front.

Legislation Showing Weakness

Yet, the terrible consequences of the incident reveals that current gun laws are failing. Crafted in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, decades have worn away their effectiveness. Concerningly, there are now a greater number of guns in Australia than before the Port Arthur massacre, with some individuals in cities reportedly holding collections numbering in the hundreds.

We have been overconfident and it has cost us terribly.

The Path Ahead: Proposed Reforms

Since the Bondi attack, there have been multiple declarations regarding strengthened gun laws. The state of NSW in particular will soon enact a suite of reforms to mitigate the public danger from firearms. The national government has proposed a fresh firearm surrender scheme, and there is potential for a national firearms registry, despite the complexities of aligning state and federal jurisdictions.

All of this are only possible if the nation acts in unison. As noted, regarding gun control, the country is only as strong as its least stringent jurisdiction. This is the very nature of the Australian system – regulations in one state are easily circumvented if they can be bypassed with a short drive across a state line.

Countering Common Objections

We hear the predictable response that "firearms are not the killers, people kill people". This is true in the identical way that aircraft do not fly passengers, pilots do. Yes, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be quite challenging for a captain to move 500 people internationally without the plane. The mass slaughter seen at Bondi would be all but impossible without guns, and would have been significantly less lethal if the accused individuals had been denied access to the weapons they possessed.

Weighing Necessity and Safety

There are legitimate needs for some Australians to own firearms. Farm work or culling pests in many places is incredibly hard without them. A total ban of firearms from the country is not feasible, as in certain contexts they are indispensable.

The achievable goal – the imperative action – is to guarantee that firearm legislation are updated to accurately reflect the world we live in today. Australia's legislation have long been the admiration of the world, but time and distance has done its work and the nation is no longer as safe as it previously was. It is critical to learn from the tragedy of Bondi seriously, and make certain that coming Australians are equally safe as past generations have been.

A friend observed after the Bondi events, "things like this just don't happen here". They don't, but only because the country has made concerted efforts to maintain its security. However horrific as the attack was, there is hope that it can serve as the final tragedy the nation ever sees.