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In the aftermath of the awful incident at Bondi, Australia is confronting multiple pressing conversations. There is a long-overdue national focus on anti-Jewish sentiment, an persistent worry about public safety, and questions about the way such an event could occur. But, as viewed of a health professional and Australian Jew, the paramount dialogue we are now having centers on firearms.

Ten Years of Warnings and a Successful Response

Public health experts have been issuing warnings about guns for at least a decade. Following the events of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians united and enacted a series of reforms to reduce gun violence across the country. And it worked. Before 1996, the nation witnessed approximately one mass shooting per year. In the decades since, there have been extremely rare major events, with none approaching the death toll of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Tragedy and the Role of Existing Laws

Amidst the Bondi tragedy, the nation's firearm regulations were not entirely useless. Reports indicate the alleged attackers might have been armed with bolt-action rifles 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 subsequent shot. While these guns can be fired quite quickly with devastating effect, they remain far slower and less efficient than the high-capacity, self-loading rifles commonplace in overseas mass shootings. The casualty count at Bondi would've been far higher if different firearms had been available.

Preventing a future Bondi requires national cohesion. Regrettably, there are already fissures in the united front.

Legislation Showing Weakness

However, the horrific consequences of the attack reveals that current gun laws are inadequate. Crafted in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, years have worn away their effectiveness. Concerningly, there are currently more firearms in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur massacre, with some citizens in urban areas owning collections of hundreds of weapons.

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

The Path Forward: Announced Changes

Since the Bondi attack, there have been numerous declarations regarding new firearm legislation. The state of NSW in particular will shortly introduce a package of reforms to mitigate the collective risk from firearms. The national government has announced a new gun buyback, and there is hope for a national firearms registry, notwithstanding the complexities of coordinating state and federal jurisdictions.

All of this are only possible if the nation works together. As noted, when it comes to 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 avoided with a journey across a border.

Countering Frequent Objections

We hear the inevitable response that "firearms are not the killers, individuals are". This is accurate in the identical way that aircraft do not fly passengers, 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 witnessed at Bondi would be all but impossible without firearms, and would have been significantly less lethal if the alleged terrorists had not had access to the weapons they used.

Weighing Need and Security

There are valid needs for some Australians to own guns. Managing livestock or controlling vermin in rural areas is incredibly hard without them. A total ban of firearms from the country is not feasible, as in certain contexts they are indispensable.

What we can do – the imperative action – is to guarantee that gun laws are updated to better match the society we live in today. Australia's legislation 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 to heart, and ensure that future generations are equally safe as previous generations have been.

As one friend remarked after the Bondi events, "such tragedies just don't happen here". They don't, but solely due to the fact that the country has collectively worked to maintain its security. However horrific as the incident was, there is an aspiration that it can serve as the final tragedy the nation ever sees.