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In the aftermath of the awful incident at Bondi, Australia is confronting several pressing conversations. There is a long-overdue national focus on anti-Jewish sentiment, an persistent concern about national security, and questions about the way such an tragedy could occur. However, as viewed of a health professional and Australian Jew, the paramount discussion we are now having centers on firearms.

A Decade of Warnings and a Successful Response

Public health specialists have been issuing warnings about guns for at least a decade. Following the events of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians united and implemented a series of reforms to reduce gun violence nationwide. The strategy succeeded. Before 1996, the nation experienced roughly one large-scale firearm incident per year. Over the following years, there have been extremely rare major events, with none reaching the fatalities of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Attack and the Function of Existing Regulations

Amidst the Bondi tragedy, the nation's gun laws were not entirely useless. It has been suggested the alleged attackers possessed with manually-operated long guns and at least one straight-pull shotgun. These firearms are limited to firing a one round at a time, necessitating a manual operation to ready the subsequent shot. While these guns can be fired rapidly with lethal results, they remain significantly less rapid and more cumbersome than the large-magazine, semi-automatic rifles commonplace in overseas mass shootings. The number of deaths at Bondi would've been far higher if different weapons had been available.

Stopping a future Bondi demands national cohesion. And unfortunately, we have already seen fissures in the united front.

Legislation Showing Weakness

However, the horrific toll of the attack reveals that existing firearm regulations are failing. Designed in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, decades have worn away their effectiveness. Concerningly, there are now a greater number of guns in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur shooting, with some citizens in urban areas reportedly holding arsenals of hundreds of weapons.

We have been overconfident and it has cost us terribly.

The Path Forward: Announced Changes

Since the Bondi tragedy, there have been numerous declarations regarding new gun laws. New South Wales in particular will shortly enact a package of reforms to reduce the public danger posed by firearms. The federal government has announced a fresh firearm surrender scheme, and there is hope for a national firearms registry, notwithstanding the inherent challenges of aligning state and federal governments.

These measures are feasible provided that the nation acts in unison. As noted, when it comes to firearm laws, the country is dependent on its weakest link. This is the reality of the Australian federation – laws in one state are much less meaningful if they can be bypassed with a journey across a border.

Addressing Common Arguments

We hear the inevitable argument that "guns don't kill people, individuals are". This is true in the same sense that aircraft do not fly passengers, aviators do. Yes, 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 firearms, and would have been significantly less lethal if the accused individuals had not had access to the weapons they used.

Balancing Need and Security

It is acknowledged there are legitimate needs for some Australians to possess guns. Farm work or controlling vermin in many places is incredibly hard without them. A total ban of firearms from the country is impractical, as in some cases they are essential tools.

The achievable goal – the imperative action – is to ensure that firearm legislation are modernized to accurately reflect the world we live in today. Australia's legislation have historically been the envy of the world, but the passage of years has taken a toll and the nation is less secure as it once was. It is critical to learn from the tragedy of Bondi seriously, and make certain that future generations are as protected as previous generations have been.

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