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In the aftermath of the horrific attack at Bondi, Australia is confronting multiple critical conversations. We are seeing a long-overdue national focus on anti-Jewish sentiment, an persistent concern about public safety, and questions about the way such an tragedy could happen. However, from the perspective of a health professional and Jewish Australian, the paramount discussion we are now having revolves around firearms.

Ten Years of Warnings and a Proven Solution

Public health experts have been sounding alarms about guns for a minimum of a ten-year period. In the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians united and implemented a suite of reforms to curb gun violence nationwide. The strategy succeeded. Prior to 1996, the nation experienced roughly one mass shooting per year. In the decades since, there have been vanishingly few significant tragedies, with none reaching the fatalities of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Tragedy and the Function of Existing Laws

Even during the Bondi tragedy, the nation's gun laws were partially effective. It has been suggested the individuals involved possessed with bolt-action rifles and a straight-pull shotgun. These firearms can only fire a single bullet at a time, necessitating a manual operation to ready the next round. Although these guns can be fired quite quickly with lethal results, they remain significantly less rapid and less efficient than the large-magazine, self-loading rifles commonplace in overseas attacks. The casualty count at Bondi could have been much greater if more advanced firearms had been accessible.

Preventing another Bondi requires unity across all states. Regrettably, we have already seen cracks in the united front.

A System Under Strain

Yet, the horrific consequences of the attack demonstrates that current gun laws are failing. Crafted in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, years have worn away their efficacy. Concerningly, there are now a greater number of guns in Australia than before the Port Arthur massacre, with some individuals in urban areas reportedly holding collections of hundreds of weapons.

We have been overconfident and it has cost us terribly.

The Path Ahead: Proposed Reforms

In the time after the Bondi tragedy, there have been multiple announcements regarding new firearm legislation. New South Wales specifically will soon enact a package of measures to mitigate the public danger posed by firearms. The federal government has announced a fresh gun buyback, and there is hope for a national firearms registry, despite the complexities of coordinating state and federal governments.

These measures are feasible provided that the nation works together. As stated, when it comes to firearm laws, the country is dependent on its least stringent jurisdiction. This is the reality of the Australian system – laws in one state are much less meaningful if they can be avoided with a journey across a border.

Countering Frequent Objections

There is the predictable response that "firearms are not the killers, people kill people". This is accurate in the same sense that aircraft do not fly passengers, aviators do. Yes, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be quite challenging for a captain to move 500 people overseas without the aircraft. The horrific violence seen at Bondi would be all but impossible without firearms, and would have been significantly less lethal if the alleged terrorists had not had access to the firearms they used.

Weighing Necessity and Security

It is acknowledged there are valid needs for some Australians to possess firearms. Managing livestock or culling pests in rural areas is incredibly hard without them. A total ban of firearms from the country is impractical, as in some cases they are essential tools.

What we can do – the imperative action – is to ensure that gun laws 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 taken a toll and the nation is no longer as safe as it previously was. It is vital to take the lessons of Bondi seriously, and make certain that future generations are equally safe as previous generations have been.

As one friend observed after the Bondi attack, "things like this just don't happen here". This is true, but only because the country has made concerted efforts to keep itself safe. However horrific as the incident was, there is hope that it can become the final tragedy the nation ever sees.