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Following the tragedy of the awful attack at Bondi, Australia is confronting several pressing reckonings. We are seeing a much-needed national focus on antisemitism, an ongoing concern about public safety, and inquiries about how such an event could happen. However, from the perspective of a public health expert and Australian Jew, the paramount discussion we are finally having centers on firearms.

Ten Years of Cautions and a Proven Solution

Public health specialists have been sounding alarms about guns for a minimum of a decade. Following the events of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians united and implemented a suite of reforms to reduce gun violence across the country. The strategy succeeded. Before 1996, the nation experienced approximately one large-scale firearm incident 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.

This Recent Tragedy and the Role of Current Regulations

Amidst the Bondi events, the nation's gun laws were not entirely useless. Reports indicate the alleged attackers possessed with manually-operated long guns and a straight-pull shotgun. These firearms can only fire a one round at a time, requiring a manual operation to ready the next round. While these guns can be fired quite quickly with lethal results, they remain far slower and less efficient than the large-magazine, self-loading rifles commonplace in international attacks. The number of deaths at Bondi would've been far higher if more advanced weapons had been available.

Preventing another Bondi demands unity across all states. Regrettably, there are already cracks in the united front.

Legislation Under Strain

However, the horrific consequences of the attack reveals that current firearm regulations are inadequate. Designed in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, decades have eroded their efficacy. Concerningly, there are now more firearms in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur massacre, with some citizens in cities reportedly holding arsenals of hundreds of weapons.

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

The Path Forward: Proposed Changes

In the time after the Bondi tragedy, there have been multiple announcements regarding new firearm legislation. New South Wales in particular will shortly enact a suite of measures to reduce the public danger from firearms. The federal government has announced a new firearm surrender scheme, and there is hope for a countrywide gun database, despite the inherent challenges of aligning 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 weakest link. This is the very nature of the Australian federation – regulations in one state are much less meaningful if they can be avoided with a short drive across a border.

Countering Common Arguments

There is the inevitable response that "firearms are not the killers, people kill people". This is true in the identical way that planes don't transport people, pilots do. Certainly, aircraft require operators, but it would be virtually impossible for a pilot to transport 500 people overseas without the aircraft. The mass slaughter witnessed at Bondi would be extremely difficult without guns, and would have been far less damaging if the accused individuals had not had access to the firearms they possessed.

Balancing Necessity and Security

There are legitimate needs for some Australians to possess guns. Managing livestock or controlling vermin in many places is extremely difficult without them. A complete removal of firearms from the country is impractical, as in certain contexts they are indispensable.

What we can do – what we must do – is to ensure that firearm legislation are updated to accurately reflect the world we live in today. Australia's legislation have historically been the envy of the world, but time and distance has done its work and the nation is no longer as safe as it once was. It is vital to learn from the tragedy of Bondi seriously, and make certain that coming Australians are as protected as previous generations have been.

As one commentator observed after the Bondi attack, "such tragedies just don't happen here". This is true, but only because the country has made concerted efforts to maintain its security. However horrific as the attack was, there is an aspiration that it can serve as the final tragedy the nation ever sees.