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Following the tragedy of the horrific attack at Bondi, Australia is facing multiple pressing conversations. There is a long-overdue national spotlight on antisemitism, an persistent concern about national security, and questions about the way such an tragedy could happen. But, as viewed of a health professional and Australian Jew, the paramount dialogue we are finally having revolves around firearms.

Ten Years of Warnings and a Successful Solution

Public health specialists have been sounding alarms about firearms for at least a ten-year period. In the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians came together and implemented a series of reforms to reduce gun violence across the country. And it worked. Before 1996, the nation experienced approximately one large-scale firearm incident per year. Over the following years, there have been vanishingly few major events, with none approaching the death toll of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Tragedy and the Function of Current Regulations

Amidst the Bondi tragedy, the nation's firearm regulations were not entirely useless. Reports indicate the individuals involved might have been armed with bolt-action rifles and a straight-pull shotgun. These weapons can only fire a single bullet at a time, necessitating a manual operation to ready the subsequent shot. Although these guns are capable of being discharged rapidly with devastating effect, they remain far slower and more cumbersome than the high-capacity, self-loading rifles frequently used in international mass shootings. The casualty count at Bondi would've been far higher if different firearms had been available.

Stopping a future Bondi demands unity across all states. And unfortunately, there are already cracks in the united front.

A System Under Strain

However, the terrible consequences of the attack reveals that existing gun laws are failing. Designed in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, years have worn away their effectiveness. Alarmingly, there are now a greater number of guns in Australia than before the Port Arthur shooting, with some citizens in cities owning collections of hundreds of weapons.

We have been complacent and it has cost us terribly.

The Path Ahead: Proposed Changes

In the time after the Bondi tragedy, there have been multiple announcements regarding strengthened gun laws. The state of NSW specifically will shortly introduce a package of reforms to mitigate the public danger from firearms. The national government has announced a fresh firearm surrender scheme, and there is hope for a national firearms registry, despite the inherent challenges of coordinating state and federal jurisdictions.

These measures are only possible provided that the nation works together. As noted, when it comes to firearm laws, the country is dependent on its weakest link. This is the reality of the Australian federation – regulations in one state are easily circumvented if they can be bypassed with a journey across a state line.

Countering Frequent Objections

There is the inevitable argument that "guns don't kill people, individuals are". This is true in the identical way that planes don't transport people, pilots do. Certainly, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be quite challenging for a pilot to transport 500 people internationally without the plane. The mass slaughter witnessed at Bondi would be all but impossible without firearms, and would have been far less damaging if the accused individuals had been denied access to the weapons they used.

Weighing Need and Safety

There are legitimate needs for some Australians to possess guns. 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 society we live in today. Australia's laws have historically been the admiration of the world, but the passage of years has done its work and the nation is less secure as it previously was. It is vital to learn from the tragedy of Bondi to heart, and ensure that future generations are as protected as previous generations have been.

A friend remarked after the Bondi events, "such tragedies 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 attack was, there is an aspiration that it can become the final tragedy the nation experiences.