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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 ongoing worry about national security, and inquiries about the way such an event could happen. However, as viewed of a health professional and Australian Jew, the most important dialogue we are now having centers on firearms.

Ten Years of Warnings and a Proven Solution

Public health specialists have been issuing warnings about guns for a minimum of a decade. In the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians came together and enacted a suite of measures to reduce gun violence across the country. The strategy succeeded. Prior to 1996, the nation experienced approximately one large-scale firearm incident per year. In the decades since, there have been vanishingly few major events, with none approaching the death toll of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Attack and the Function of Existing Laws

Amidst the Bondi tragedy, the nation's firearm regulations were partially effective. It has been suggested the alleged attackers might have been armed 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 chamber the subsequent shot. While these guns can be fired rapidly with lethal results, they remain significantly less rapid 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 requires national cohesion. Regrettably, we have already seen fissures in the united front.

Legislation Under Strain

Yet, the horrific toll of the attack reveals that current gun laws are failing. Designed in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, decades have eroded their effectiveness. Alarmingly, there are now more firearms in Australia than before the Port Arthur shooting, with some individuals in cities owning collections numbering in the hundreds.

We have been overconfident and it has cost us terribly.

The Road Ahead: Proposed Changes

Since the Bondi attack, there have been multiple announcements regarding new gun laws. New South Wales in particular will soon introduce a suite of measures to reduce the collective risk from firearms. The federal government has proposed a new firearm surrender scheme, and there is potential for a national firearms registry, notwithstanding the inherent challenges of coordinating state and federal jurisdictions.

All of this are feasible if the nation acts in unison. As stated, when it comes to firearm laws, the country is dependent on its weakest link. This is the very nature of the Australian federation – laws in one state are much less meaningful if they can be bypassed with a short drive across a border.

Countering Common Objections

We hear the inevitable response that "guns don't kill people, people kill people". This is accurate in the identical way that planes don't transport people, aviators do. Certainly, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be quite challenging for a pilot to move 500 people internationally without the aircraft. The mass slaughter seen at Bondi would be extremely difficult without firearms, and would have been significantly less lethal if the accused individuals had not had access to the weapons they used.

Weighing Necessity and Safety

There are legitimate reasons for some Australians to possess guns. Managing livestock or culling pests in many places is extremely difficult without them. A complete removal of firearms from the country is impractical, as in certain contexts they are essential tools.

What we can do – the imperative action – is to ensure that gun laws are modernized to better match the society we live in today. Australia's laws have historically been the admiration of the world, but time and distance has taken a toll and the nation is less secure as it previously was. It is critical to learn from the tragedy of Bondi seriously, and make certain that coming Australians are equally safe as previous generations have been.

As one commentator remarked after the Bondi attack, "things like this just don't happen here". They don't, but only because the country has made concerted efforts to keep itself safe. As nightmarish as the incident was, there is hope that it can serve as the final tragedy the nation experiences.