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Following the tragedy of the awful incident at Bondi, Australia is facing multiple pressing conversations. We are seeing a much-needed national focus on anti-Jewish sentiment, an persistent concern about public safety, and inquiries about how such an tragedy could occur. But, as viewed of a public health expert and Australian Jew, the paramount discussion we are now having centers on firearms.

Ten Years of Cautions and a Successful Response

Public health specialists have been sounding alarms about firearms for at least a decade. Following the events of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians came together and enacted a series of measures to reduce gun violence nationwide. The strategy succeeded. Prior to 1996, the nation witnessed roughly one mass shooting per year. Over the following years, there have been vanishingly few significant tragedies, with none approaching the fatalities of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Attack and the Function of Current Regulations

Amidst the Bondi tragedy, the nation's gun laws were partially effective. It has been suggested the individuals involved possessed with bolt-action rifles and at least one straight-pull shotgun. These weapons can only fire a single bullet at a time, necessitating a manual operation to chamber the subsequent shot. While these guns are capable of being discharged quite quickly with devastating effect, they remain far slower and less efficient than the large-magazine, semi-automatic rifles commonplace in overseas mass shootings. The casualty count at Bondi could have been much greater if more advanced firearms had been available.

Preventing another Bondi demands unity across all states. Regrettably, we have already seen fissures in the facade.

Legislation Showing Weakness

Yet, the horrific toll of the incident demonstrates that current firearm regulations are inadequate. Designed in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, years have eroded their effectiveness. Concerningly, there are now a greater number of guns in Australia than before the Port Arthur massacre, with some individuals in urban areas owning collections numbering in the hundreds.

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

The Path Ahead: Proposed Reforms

Since the Bondi attack, there have been multiple declarations regarding new gun laws. The state of NSW in particular will soon introduce a suite of reforms to mitigate the public danger posed by firearms. The national government has announced a new firearm surrender scheme, and there is hope for a national firearms registry, despite the inherent challenges of coordinating state and federal jurisdictions.

All of this are feasible provided that 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 much less meaningful if they can be bypassed with a short drive across a state line.

Countering Common Objections

There is the predictable argument that "firearms are not the killers, people kill people". This is accurate in the same sense that planes don't transport people, aviators do. Yes, aircraft require operators, but it would be virtually impossible for a captain to move 500 people overseas without the plane. The horrific violence witnessed at Bondi would be all but impossible without guns, and would have been significantly less lethal if the alleged terrorists had been denied access to the weapons they used.

Balancing Need and Safety

There are legitimate needs for some Australians to own firearms. Managing livestock or culling pests in rural areas 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 modernized to better match the world we live in today. Australia's laws have long been the envy of the world, but the passage of years has taken a toll and the nation is less secure as it previously was. It is vital to learn from the tragedy of Bondi seriously, and make certain that future generations are as protected as previous generations have been.

A commentator remarked after the Bondi events, "things like this just don't happen here". They don't, but only because the country has collectively worked to maintain its security. However horrific as the attack was, there is an aspiration that it can become the final tragedy the nation experiences.