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Following the tragedy of the awful incident at Bondi, Australia is facing several critical conversations. We are seeing a long-overdue national focus on antisemitism, an persistent worry about public safety, and questions about how such an event could occur. However, as viewed of a health professional and Australian Jew, the most important dialogue we are finally having revolves around firearms.

Ten Years of Warnings and a Successful Solution

Public health specialists have been issuing warnings about guns for a minimum of a ten-year period. Following the events of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians united and enacted a series of reforms to reduce gun violence nationwide. The strategy succeeded. Before 1996, the nation witnessed approximately one mass shooting per year. In the decades since, there have been vanishingly few major events, with none approaching the fatalities of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Tragedy and the Role of Existing Laws

Amidst the Bondi events, the nation's firearm regulations were partially effective. Reports indicate the alleged attackers might have been armed with bolt-action rifles and a straight-pull shotgun. These firearms are limited to firing a one round at a time, necessitating a manual operation to chamber the subsequent shot. While these guns can be fired quite quickly with devastating effect, they remain significantly less rapid and less efficient than the high-capacity, semi-automatic rifles commonplace in international mass shootings. The casualty count at Bondi could have been much greater if different firearms had been accessible.

Stopping another Bondi requires unity across all states. Regrettably, there are already cracks in the facade.

A System Showing Weakness

However, the terrible consequences of the attack demonstrates that current gun laws are inadequate. Designed in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, decades have eroded their efficacy. Concerningly, there are currently more firearms in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur massacre, with some citizens in cities owning collections of hundreds of weapons.

The nation has grown complacent and it has exacted a terrible price.

The Road Forward: Proposed Changes

In the time after the Bondi tragedy, there have been numerous declarations regarding strengthened firearm legislation. New South Wales specifically will soon enact a suite of reforms to reduce the collective risk from firearms. The federal government has announced a fresh firearm surrender scheme, and there is hope for a countrywide gun database, notwithstanding the inherent challenges of aligning state and federal governments.

These measures are feasible if the nation acts in unison. As noted, when it comes to firearm laws, the country is only as strong as its least stringent jurisdiction. This is the reality of the Australian federation – laws in one state are easily circumvented if they can be bypassed with a short drive across a state line.

Countering Frequent Arguments

There is the inevitable argument that "guns don't kill people, people kill people". This is true in the identical way that planes don't transport people, aviators do. Certainly, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be virtually impossible for a pilot to transport 500 people internationally without the aircraft. The horrific violence witnessed at Bondi would be extremely difficult without firearms, and would have been far less damaging if the alleged terrorists had been denied access to the firearms they used.

Balancing Necessity and Safety

It is acknowledged there are valid reasons for some Australians to possess guns. Farm work or culling pests in rural areas is extremely difficult without them. A complete removal of firearms from the country is impractical, as in some cases they are indispensable.

What we can do – the imperative action – is to ensure that firearm legislation are updated to accurately reflect the society 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 less secure as it once was. It is critical to take the lessons of Bondi seriously, and make certain that future generations are equally safe as previous 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 keep itself safe. However horrific as the attack was, there is an aspiration that it can serve as the last one the nation ever sees.