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In the aftermath of the awful attack at Bondi, Australia is confronting several pressing conversations. There is a long-overdue national focus on antisemitism, an ongoing worry about public safety, and inquiries about the way such an tragedy could happen. But, as viewed of a public health expert and Jewish Australian, the paramount discussion we are now having centers on firearms.

Ten Years of Cautions and a Proven Response

Health specialists have been sounding alarms about firearms for a minimum of a ten-year period. Following the events of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians came together and enacted a series of reforms to curb gun violence across the country. And it worked. Prior to 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 approaching the death toll of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Attack and the Function of Current 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 bolt-action rifles and a straight-pull shotgun. These weapons are limited to firing a single bullet at a time, necessitating a manual operation to ready the subsequent shot. While these guns can be fired quite quickly with lethal results, they remain significantly less rapid and more cumbersome than the large-magazine, semi-automatic rifles commonplace in international attacks. The number of deaths at Bondi could have been much greater if different firearms had been accessible.

Preventing another Bondi requires unity across all states. Regrettably, we have already seen fissures in the united front.

Legislation Under Strain

Yet, the horrific toll of the attack reveals 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 prior to the Port Arthur massacre, with some individuals in cities reportedly holding arsenals numbering in the hundreds.

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

The Path Ahead: Announced Changes

In the time after the Bondi attack, there have been multiple announcements regarding new firearm legislation. New South Wales specifically will shortly enact a suite of measures to mitigate the public danger from firearms. The federal government has proposed a new gun buyback, and there is hope for a national firearms registry, despite the inherent challenges of coordinating state and federal jurisdictions.

All of this are only possible provided that the nation acts in unison. As noted, regarding firearm laws, the country is only as strong as its least stringent jurisdiction. This is the reality of the Australian federation – laws in one state are much less meaningful if they can be bypassed with a short drive across a state line.

Addressing Common Arguments

There is the inevitable response that "firearms are not the killers, people kill people". This is accurate in the identical way that planes don't transport people, aviators do. Certainly, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be quite challenging for a pilot to move 500 people internationally without the aircraft. The horrific violence seen at Bondi would be extremely difficult without guns, and would have been significantly less lethal if the alleged terrorists had not had access to the firearms they possessed.

Weighing Need and Safety

It is acknowledged there are valid needs for some Australians to own guns. Managing livestock or culling pests in many places is extremely difficult without them. A complete removal of guns from the country is not feasible, as in certain contexts they are essential tools.

What we can do – the imperative action – is to ensure that firearm legislation 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 no longer as safe as it previously was. It is vital to learn from the tragedy of Bondi seriously, and make certain that future generations are equally safe as previous generations have been.

A friend remarked after the Bondi attack, "things like this just don't happen here". They don't, but solely due to the fact that the country has collectively worked to keep itself safe. As nightmarish as the incident was, there is hope that it can become the final tragedy the nation experiences.