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Following the tragedy of the awful attack at Bondi, Australia is facing multiple critical reckonings. We are seeing a much-needed national focus on anti-Jewish sentiment, an ongoing worry about public safety, and questions about the way such an event could occur. However, from the perspective of a health professional and Australian Jew, the paramount dialogue we are now having centers on firearms.

A Decade of Warnings and a Proven Response

Public health specialists have been sounding alarms about firearms for a minimum of a ten-year period. In the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians united and enacted a series of reforms to curb gun violence nationwide. And it worked. Prior to 1996, the nation experienced roughly one large-scale firearm incident per year. Over the following years, there have been vanishingly few major events, with none reaching the fatalities of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Tragedy and the Function of Existing Regulations

Even during the Bondi events, the nation's firearm regulations were partially effective. It has been suggested the alleged attackers might have been armed with bolt-action rifles and a straight-pull shotgun. These firearms can only fire a single bullet at a time, requiring a manual operation to ready the next round. While these guns can be fired rapidly with lethal results, they remain significantly less rapid and more cumbersome than the large-magazine, semi-automatic rifles frequently used in international mass shootings. The casualty count at Bondi could have been much greater if different firearms had been accessible.

Stopping another Bondi requires national cohesion. Regrettably, there are already cracks in the united front.

Legislation Showing Weakness

However, the horrific toll of the attack demonstrates that current firearm regulations are failing. Crafted in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, years have eroded their effectiveness. Alarmingly, there are now a greater number of guns in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur massacre, with some individuals in urban areas reportedly holding arsenals of hundreds of weapons.

We have been complacent and it has exacted a terrible price.

The Path Forward: Proposed Changes

In the time after the Bondi attack, there have been multiple announcements regarding new gun laws. The state of NSW specifically will shortly introduce a package of measures to mitigate the public danger from firearms. The federal government has proposed a new gun buyback, and there is potential for a countrywide gun database, despite the inherent challenges of aligning state and federal governments.

All of this are feasible if the nation acts in unison. As noted, regarding firearm laws, the country is only as strong as its weakest link. This is the very nature of the Australian system – regulations in one state are easily circumvented if they can be avoided with a short drive across a state line.

Countering Common Arguments

We hear the predictable response that "firearms are not the killers, people kill people". This is accurate in the identical way that planes don't transport people, aviators do. Yes, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be quite challenging for a pilot to move 500 people internationally without the plane. The horrific violence witnessed at Bondi would be extremely difficult without guns, and would have been significantly less lethal if the alleged terrorists had been denied access to the weapons they possessed.

Weighing Need and Security

There are valid reasons for some Australians to own guns. Managing livestock or controlling vermin in many places is incredibly hard without them. A total ban of guns from the country is impractical, as in certain contexts they are indispensable.

The achievable goal – what we must do – is to guarantee that firearm legislation are updated to better match the world we live in today. Australia's legislation have long been the admiration of the world, but the passage of years has done its work and the nation is no longer as safe as it once was. It is vital to learn from the tragedy of Bondi to heart, and make certain that coming Australians are equally safe as previous generations have been.

As one commentator remarked after the Bondi events, "such tragedies just don't happen here". They don't, but only because the country has collectively worked to keep itself safe. However horrific as the incident was, there is an aspiration that it can become the final tragedy the nation ever sees.