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In the aftermath of the awful incident at Bondi, Australia is facing several critical conversations. There is a long-overdue national spotlight on antisemitism, an ongoing worry about public safety, and questions about how such an tragedy could happen. However, from the perspective of a public health expert and Jewish Australian, the paramount dialogue we are now having revolves around firearms.

Ten Years of Cautions and a Successful Solution

Public 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 implemented a series of measures to curb gun violence across the country. And it worked. Prior to 1996, the nation witnessed roughly one mass shooting 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.

This Recent Tragedy and the Role of Existing Laws

Even during the Bondi events, the nation's firearm regulations were partially effective. It has been suggested the individuals involved might have been armed with bolt-action rifles and a straight-pull shotgun. These firearms are limited to firing a single bullet at a time, necessitating a physical action to chamber the subsequent shot. Although these guns are capable of being discharged rapidly with devastating effect, they remain far slower and more cumbersome than the large-magazine, self-loading rifles frequently used in overseas mass shootings. The casualty count at Bondi would've been far higher if different weapons had been available.

Stopping another Bondi requires national cohesion. And unfortunately, there are already fissures in the united front.

A System Showing Weakness

However, the horrific consequences of the attack reveals that current gun laws are failing. Designed in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, decades have eroded their efficacy. Alarmingly, there are currently more firearms in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur massacre, with some citizens in urban areas owning arsenals numbering in the hundreds.

We have been complacent and it has cost us terribly.

The Road Forward: Proposed Reforms

In the time after the Bondi tragedy, there have been numerous declarations regarding new firearm legislation. The state of NSW in particular will shortly introduce a package of reforms to reduce the collective risk posed by firearms. The national government has announced a new gun buyback, and there is hope for a national firearms registry, notwithstanding the inherent challenges of coordinating state and federal governments.

All of this are only possible if the nation acts in unison. As noted, regarding gun control, the country is dependent on its weakest link. This is the reality of the Australian federation – regulations in one state are easily circumvented if they can be bypassed with a short drive across a state line.

Countering Common Objections

We hear the predictable response that "firearms are not the killers, individuals are". This is accurate in the same sense that aircraft do not fly passengers, pilots do. Yes, aircraft require operators, but it would be quite challenging for a captain to move 500 people overseas without the aircraft. The mass slaughter seen at Bondi would be extremely difficult without guns, and would have been significantly less lethal if the accused individuals had not had access to the firearms they used.

Weighing Necessity and Security

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

The achievable goal – what we must do – is to ensure that firearm legislation are modernized to better match the world we live in today. Australia's laws have long been the envy 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 critical to take the lessons of Bondi seriously, and ensure that future generations are equally safe as previous generations have been.

A commentator remarked after the Bondi events, "such tragedies just don't happen here". This is true, but only because the country has collectively worked to maintain its security. However horrific as the incident was, there is an aspiration that it can serve as the last one the nation ever sees.