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Following the tragedy of the horrific attack at Bondi, Australia is facing several pressing conversations. There is a much-needed national spotlight on anti-Jewish sentiment, an persistent worry about national security, and questions about the way such an event could occur. However, from the perspective of a health professional and Australian Jew, the most important discussion we are finally having revolves around firearms.

Ten Years of Cautions and a Proven Response

Public health experts have been issuing warnings about guns for a minimum of a ten-year period. In the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians came together and enacted a suite of reforms to reduce gun violence across the country. And it worked. Before 1996, the nation witnessed roughly one mass shooting per year. Over the following years, there have been extremely rare major events, with none reaching the fatalities of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Attack and the Role of Existing Laws

Amidst the Bondi tragedy, the nation's gun laws were not entirely useless. Reports indicate the individuals involved possessed with bolt-action rifles and at least one straight-pull shotgun. These firearms can only fire a one round at a time, requiring a physical action to chamber the subsequent shot. While these guns can be fired quite quickly with lethal results, they remain far slower and more cumbersome than the high-capacity, self-loading rifles commonplace in overseas mass shootings. The casualty count at Bondi would've been far higher if different weapons had been available.

Stopping a future Bondi demands national cohesion. Regrettably, we have already seen fissures in the facade.

A System Under Strain

Yet, the horrific consequences of the incident demonstrates that existing firearm regulations are failing. Designed in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, years have eroded their efficacy. Concerningly, there are currently more firearms in Australia than before the Port Arthur shooting, with some citizens in cities reportedly holding arsenals of hundreds of weapons.

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

The Path Ahead: Proposed Changes

Since the Bondi tragedy, 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 fresh firearm surrender scheme, and there is hope for a national firearms registry, despite the inherent challenges of coordinating state and federal governments.

All of this are only possible 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 reality of the Australian federation – regulations in one state are much less meaningful if they can be bypassed with a journey across a state line.

Countering Frequent Arguments

We hear the inevitable response that "firearms are not the killers, people kill people". This is accurate in the same sense that planes don't transport people, aviators do. Certainly, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be virtually impossible for a captain to transport 500 people overseas without the aircraft. The horrific violence seen at Bondi would be extremely difficult without guns, and would have been significantly less lethal if the alleged terrorists had been denied access to the weapons they possessed.

Balancing Necessity and Safety

There are valid needs for some Australians to possess firearms. Farm work or controlling vermin in many places is extremely difficult without them. A total ban of guns from the country is not feasible, as in certain contexts they are indispensable.

What we can do – what we must do – is to ensure that firearm legislation 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 no longer as safe as it previously was. It is critical to take the lessons of Bondi to heart, and ensure that coming Australians are as protected as previous generations have been.

As one commentator observed 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 maintain its security. However horrific as the incident was, there is an aspiration that it can serve as the final tragedy the nation experiences.