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In the aftermath of the awful attack at Bondi, Australia is confronting several critical reckonings. We are seeing a much-needed national focus on anti-Jewish sentiment, an persistent worry about national security, and questions about how such an tragedy could occur. However, from the perspective of a health professional and Australian Jew, the paramount dialogue we are now having revolves around firearms.

A Decade of Warnings and a Proven Response

Health specialists have been issuing warnings about firearms for at least a ten-year period. Following the events of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians united and enacted a series of reforms to reduce gun violence nationwide. The strategy succeeded. Prior to 1996, the nation experienced roughly one large-scale firearm incident per year. Over the following years, there have been extremely rare significant tragedies, with none reaching the death toll of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Tragedy and the Function of Existing Regulations

Even during the Bondi tragedy, the nation's firearm regulations were not entirely useless. It has been suggested the alleged attackers possessed with bolt-action rifles and a straight-pull shotgun. These weapons are limited to firing a one round at a time, requiring a manual operation to ready the subsequent shot. While these guns can be fired quite quickly with devastating effect, they remain far slower and more cumbersome than the large-magazine, semi-automatic rifles frequently used in overseas attacks. The number of deaths at Bondi could have been much greater if more advanced weapons had been accessible.

Stopping a future Bondi requires unity across all states. Regrettably, we have already seen fissures in the facade.

A System Under Strain

Yet, the horrific consequences of the incident demonstrates that current firearm regulations are inadequate. Designed in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, decades have eroded their effectiveness. Concerningly, there are currently more firearms in Australia than before the Port Arthur massacre, with some citizens in urban areas owning collections of hundreds of weapons.

The nation has grown overconfident and it has exacted a terrible price.

The Road Ahead: Proposed Reforms

Since the Bondi attack, there have been multiple declarations regarding new gun laws. The state of NSW specifically will shortly introduce a package of reforms to reduce the collective risk from firearms. The federal government has announced a fresh gun buyback, and there is hope for a countrywide gun database, notwithstanding the complexities of aligning state and federal governments.

These measures 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 very nature of the Australian federation – regulations in one state are easily circumvented if they can be bypassed with a journey across a state line.

Countering Common Objections

There is the predictable argument that "firearms are not the killers, people kill people". This is accurate in the identical way that planes don't transport people, pilots do. Certainly, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be virtually impossible for a pilot to transport 500 people overseas without the plane. The mass slaughter witnessed at Bondi would be all but impossible without guns, and would have been far less damaging if the accused individuals had not had access to the firearms they possessed.

Balancing Need and Security

There are legitimate needs for some Australians to own guns. Managing livestock or controlling vermin in many places 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 – what we must do – is to guarantee that gun laws are updated to accurately reflect the world we live in today. Australia's laws have long 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 vital to take the lessons of Bondi to heart, and make certain that future generations are equally safe as past generations have been.

A commentator remarked after the Bondi attack, "things like this just don't happen here". They don't, but only because the country has collectively worked to maintain its security. However horrific as the attack was, there is an aspiration that it can serve as the last one the nation ever sees.