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In the aftermath of the awful incident at Bondi, Australia is confronting multiple pressing conversations. We are seeing a long-overdue national focus on anti-Jewish sentiment, an ongoing concern about national security, and questions about how such an event could occur. However, from the perspective of a public health expert and Australian Jew, the most important discussion we are now having centers on firearms.

Ten Years of Warnings and a Successful Solution

Public health specialists have been sounding alarms about firearms for a minimum of a decade. In the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians united and implemented a suite of measures to curb gun violence nationwide. And it worked. Prior to 1996, the nation witnessed approximately one mass shooting per year. Over the following years, there have been extremely rare major events, with none approaching the fatalities of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Attack and the Function of Existing Regulations

Even during the Bondi tragedy, the nation's gun laws were not entirely useless. It has been suggested the individuals involved might have been armed with manually-operated long guns and a straight-pull shotgun. These weapons are limited to firing a one round at a time, necessitating a physical action to chamber the subsequent shot. While these guns can be fired quite quickly with lethal results, they remain significantly less rapid and more cumbersome than the high-capacity, self-loading rifles frequently used in overseas attacks. The number of deaths at Bondi could have been much greater if more advanced firearms had been available.

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

Legislation Showing Weakness

Yet, the terrible consequences of the attack reveals that current firearm regulations are inadequate. Crafted in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, decades have eroded their efficacy. Alarmingly, there are currently a greater number of guns in Australia than before the Port Arthur massacre, with some citizens in cities owning collections of hundreds of weapons.

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

The Road Forward: Announced Changes

Since the Bondi tragedy, there have been multiple declarations regarding strengthened gun laws. The state of NSW specifically will shortly enact a suite of reforms 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 coordinating state and federal jurisdictions.

These measures are only possible if the nation works together. As noted, when it comes to gun control, the country is dependent on its weakest link. This is the reality of the Australian federation – laws in one state are easily circumvented if they can be bypassed with a journey across a border.

Addressing Common Objections

We hear the inevitable argument that "guns don't kill people, people kill people". This is accurate in the same sense that aircraft do not fly passengers, pilots do. Certainly, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be virtually impossible for a captain to transport 500 people internationally without the aircraft. The mass slaughter witnessed at Bondi would be all but impossible without guns, and would have been far less damaging if the alleged terrorists had not had access to the firearms they used.

Weighing Necessity and Safety

It is acknowledged there are legitimate needs for some Australians to possess guns. Farm work or culling pests in rural areas is extremely difficult without them. A complete removal of firearms from the country is not feasible, as in some cases they are essential tools.

What we can do – the imperative action – is to guarantee that firearm legislation are modernized to better match the world we live in today. Australia's legislation have long 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 once was. It is vital to learn from the tragedy of Bondi seriously, and ensure that coming Australians are equally safe as past generations have been.

A commentator remarked after the Bondi attack, "such tragedies just don't happen here". This is true, but only because the country has collectively worked to keep itself safe. However horrific as the attack was, there is hope that it can serve as the final tragedy the nation experiences.