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Following the tragedy of the awful incident at Bondi, Australia is confronting multiple critical conversations. We are seeing a long-overdue national spotlight on antisemitism, an ongoing concern about public safety, and questions about the way such an event could occur. However, as viewed of a health professional and Australian Jew, the most important dialogue we are finally having centers on firearms.

A Decade of Cautions and a Proven Solution

Health specialists have been sounding alarms about firearms for a minimum of a decade. In the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians came together and implemented a series of measures to curb gun violence across the country. The strategy succeeded. Before 1996, the nation witnessed approximately one mass shooting per year. Over the following years, there have been extremely rare significant tragedies, with none reaching the death toll of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Tragedy and the Role of Current Laws

Amidst the Bondi events, the nation's gun laws were not entirely useless. It has been suggested the alleged attackers possessed with bolt-action rifles and at least one straight-pull shotgun. These weapons can only fire a single bullet at a time, requiring a physical action to chamber the next round. While these guns can be fired quite quickly with devastating effect, they remain far slower and less efficient than the large-magazine, self-loading rifles frequently used in international mass shootings. The casualty count at Bondi would've been far higher if more advanced firearms had been available.

Preventing a future Bondi demands unity across all states. Regrettably, we have already seen fissures in the united front.

Legislation Under Strain

However, the horrific toll of the attack reveals that existing gun laws are failing. Crafted in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, decades have worn away their effectiveness. Alarmingly, there are currently more firearms in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur shooting, with some citizens in urban areas reportedly holding collections numbering in the hundreds.

We have been complacent and it has cost us terribly.

The Path Ahead: Proposed Changes

Since the Bondi attack, there have been multiple announcements regarding new firearm legislation. The state of NSW specifically will shortly enact a suite of reforms to reduce the collective risk from firearms. The national government has proposed a fresh gun buyback, and there is potential for a national firearms registry, despite the complexities of coordinating state and federal jurisdictions.

These measures are only possible if the nation acts in unison. As noted, regarding firearm laws, the country is only as strong as its least stringent jurisdiction. This is the reality of the Australian federation – regulations in one state are much less meaningful if they can be bypassed with a journey across a border.

Countering Frequent Arguments

There is the predictable response that "firearms are not the killers, individuals are". This is true in the identical way that aircraft do not fly passengers, pilots do. Certainly, aircraft require operators, but it would be virtually impossible for a captain to transport 500 people overseas without the aircraft. The mass slaughter seen at Bondi would be all but impossible without firearms, and would have been significantly less lethal if the accused individuals had been denied access to the firearms they used.

Balancing Necessity and Safety

There are legitimate reasons for some Australians to possess firearms. Managing livestock or controlling vermin in rural areas is incredibly hard without them. A total ban of guns from the country is not feasible, as in some cases they are indispensable.

What we can do – the imperative action – is to guarantee that firearm legislation are modernized to better match 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 no longer as safe as it once was. It is vital to take the lessons of Bondi to heart, and ensure that coming Australians are equally safe as past generations have been.

A commentator 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. As nightmarish as the attack was, there is an aspiration that it can become the last one the nation ever sees.