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Following the tragedy of the horrific attack at Bondi, Australia is facing several pressing reckonings. There is a long-overdue national focus on anti-Jewish sentiment, an persistent concern about national security, and inquiries about the way such an event could happen. However, as viewed of a public health expert and Jewish Australian, the most important discussion we are now having centers on firearms.

Ten Years of Cautions and a Proven Solution

Public health specialists have been issuing warnings about guns for a minimum of a ten-year period. Following the events of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians came together and enacted a suite of reforms to curb gun violence across the country. And it worked. Before 1996, the nation experienced roughly one mass shooting per year. In the decades since, there have been extremely rare major events, with none reaching the death toll of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Attack and the Role of Existing Regulations

Even during the Bondi tragedy, the nation's gun laws were not entirely useless. It has been suggested the individuals involved possessed with manually-operated long guns and a straight-pull shotgun. These firearms are limited to firing a one round at a time, necessitating a physical action to ready the next round. Although these guns are capable of being discharged rapidly with lethal results, they remain significantly less rapid and more cumbersome than the high-capacity, self-loading rifles frequently used in international attacks. The casualty count at Bondi would've been far higher if more advanced firearms had been accessible.

Preventing a future Bondi demands unity across all states. And unfortunately, there are already cracks in the united front.

Legislation Showing Weakness

However, the terrible toll of the incident demonstrates that current gun laws are failing. Crafted in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, decades have worn away their efficacy. Alarmingly, there are currently a greater number of guns in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur massacre, with some citizens in urban areas owning collections numbering in the hundreds.

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

The Road Ahead: Announced Reforms

Since the Bondi attack, there have been multiple announcements regarding strengthened firearm legislation. New South Wales in particular will soon enact a suite of reforms to reduce the collective risk posed by firearms. The federal government has proposed a new firearm surrender scheme, and there is potential for a national firearms registry, notwithstanding the complexities of coordinating state and federal jurisdictions.

All of this are feasible if the nation works together. As stated, when it comes to firearm laws, the country is dependent on its least stringent jurisdiction. This is the reality of the Australian system – laws in one state are much less meaningful if they can be bypassed with a short drive across a state line.

Countering Frequent Objections

There is the inevitable argument that "guns don't kill people, people kill people". This is accurate in the identical way that planes don't transport people, pilots do. Certainly, aircraft require operators, but it would be quite challenging for a pilot to transport 500 people internationally without the plane. The horrific violence seen at Bondi would be extremely difficult without firearms, and would have been significantly less lethal if the accused individuals had been denied access to the weapons they possessed.

Balancing Necessity and Safety

It is acknowledged there are valid needs for some Australians to own guns. Managing livestock or culling pests 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.

The achievable goal – what we must do – is to ensure that gun laws are modernized to accurately reflect the society we live in today. Australia's legislation have historically been the admiration of the world, but the passage of years 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 seriously, and make certain that coming Australians are as protected as past generations have been.

As one friend 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 maintain its security. As nightmarish as the incident was, there is an aspiration that it can serve as the final tragedy the nation ever sees.