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In the aftermath of the awful attack at Bondi, Australia is confronting multiple pressing conversations. There is a long-overdue national focus on antisemitism, an ongoing worry about national security, and questions about the way such an event could happen. However, from the perspective of a public health expert and Australian Jew, the paramount dialogue we are now having centers on firearms.

Ten Years of Warnings and a Proven Solution

Health experts have been issuing warnings about firearms for a minimum of a decade. In the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians united and enacted a series of reforms to reduce gun violence nationwide. And it worked. Before 1996, the nation witnessed approximately one large-scale firearm incident per year. In the decades since, there have been extremely rare major events, with none approaching the fatalities of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Attack and the Role of Current Regulations

Amidst the Bondi tragedy, the nation's firearm regulations 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 firearms can only fire a single bullet at a time, necessitating a manual operation to ready the next round. Although these guns can be fired quite quickly with devastating effect, they remain significantly less rapid and more cumbersome than the large-magazine, self-loading rifles commonplace in international mass shootings. The casualty count at Bondi could have been much greater if different firearms had been available.

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

A System Showing Weakness

Yet, the terrible toll of the incident reveals that current gun laws are failing. Crafted in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, years have eroded their effectiveness. Alarmingly, there are now more firearms in Australia than before the Port Arthur shooting, with some citizens in urban areas reportedly holding collections numbering in the hundreds.

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

The Path Forward: Proposed Reforms

In the time after the Bondi attack, there have been numerous announcements regarding new firearm legislation. The state of NSW specifically will shortly enact a package of reforms to mitigate the collective risk posed by firearms. The national government has proposed a fresh gun buyback, and there is potential for a national firearms registry, notwithstanding the complexities of aligning state and federal jurisdictions.

These measures are only possible if the nation acts in unison. As noted, when it comes to gun control, 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 avoided with a short drive across a state line.

Addressing Common Arguments

There is the predictable response that "firearms are not the killers, people kill people". This is true in the same sense that aircraft do not fly passengers, pilots do. Yes, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be quite challenging for a captain to transport 500 people overseas without the aircraft. The horrific violence 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 weapons they possessed.

Weighing Need and Safety

It is acknowledged there are valid needs for some Australians to possess guns. Managing livestock or controlling vermin in many places is incredibly hard without them. A total ban of guns from the country is impractical, as in certain contexts they are essential tools.

The achievable goal – what we must do – is to ensure that firearm legislation are updated to better match the society we live in today. Australia's laws have historically been the envy of the world, but time and distance has done its work and the nation is less secure as it previously was. It is critical to take the lessons of Bondi to heart, and make certain that future generations are equally safe as past generations have been.

A commentator remarked after the Bondi events, "such tragedies just don't happen here". They don't, but solely due to the fact that the country has collectively worked to keep itself safe. However horrific as the attack was, there is an aspiration that it can become the final tragedy the nation ever sees.