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Following the tragedy of the awful attack at Bondi, Australia is confronting several pressing conversations. We are seeing a long-overdue national spotlight on antisemitism, an persistent worry about national security, and inquiries about the way such an event could occur. But, as viewed of a public health expert and Jewish Australian, the most important dialogue we are now having centers on firearms.

Ten Years of Cautions and a Successful Response

Public health experts have been sounding alarms about firearms for a minimum of a decade. Following the events of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians united and enacted a series of measures to reduce gun violence nationwide. The strategy succeeded. Prior to 1996, the nation witnessed approximately one mass shooting per year. In the decades since, there have been extremely rare significant tragedies, with none reaching the death toll of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Attack and the Function of Current Regulations

Amidst the Bondi tragedy, the nation's firearm regulations were partially effective. It has been suggested the alleged attackers possessed with manually-operated long guns and at least one straight-pull shotgun. These firearms can only fire a single bullet at a time, requiring a manual operation to chamber the next round. While these guns are capable of being discharged quite quickly with devastating effect, they remain far slower and more cumbersome than the high-capacity, semi-automatic rifles commonplace in international mass shootings. The number of deaths at Bondi would've been far higher if more advanced firearms had been available.

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

A System Under Strain

However, the horrific consequences of the attack reveals that current gun laws are failing. Designed in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, decades have eroded their efficacy. Alarmingly, there are currently a greater number of guns in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur massacre, with some individuals in cities reportedly holding collections of hundreds of weapons.

The nation has grown overconfident and it has cost us terribly.

The Road Forward: Proposed Changes

Since the Bondi tragedy, there have been numerous announcements regarding strengthened firearm legislation. New South Wales in particular will soon introduce a suite of measures to reduce the public danger posed by firearms. The federal government has announced a new gun buyback, and there is hope for a national firearms registry, despite the complexities of aligning state and federal jurisdictions.

These measures are only possible provided that the nation works together. As noted, regarding gun control, the country is only as strong as its least stringent jurisdiction. This is the very nature of the Australian system – laws in one state are much less meaningful if they can be bypassed with a short drive across a border.

Addressing Frequent Objections

We hear the predictable response that "guns don't kill people, people kill people". This is true in the same sense that planes don't transport people, aviators do. Certainly, aircraft require operators, but it would be virtually impossible for a captain to move 500 people overseas without the aircraft. The mass slaughter seen at Bondi would be all but impossible without guns, and would have been significantly less lethal if the accused individuals had not had access to the firearms they possessed.

Weighing Necessity and Security

It is acknowledged there are valid reasons for some Australians to possess firearms. Managing livestock or controlling vermin in rural areas is extremely difficult without them. A total ban of guns from the country is not feasible, as in certain contexts they are essential tools.

What we can do – what we must do – is to ensure that firearm legislation are updated to better match the society we live in today. Australia's legislation have historically 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 critical to learn from the tragedy of Bondi to heart, and make certain that future generations are equally safe as previous generations have been.

As one friend remarked after the Bondi events, "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 attack was, there is an aspiration that it can become the last one the nation experiences.