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Following the tragedy of the awful attack at Bondi, Australia is confronting several pressing reckonings. We are seeing a long-overdue national spotlight on anti-Jewish sentiment, an ongoing worry about public safety, and questions about the way such an event could occur. However, from the perspective of a health professional and Australian Jew, the paramount discussion we are finally having centers on firearms.

A Decade of Warnings and a Proven Response

Public health specialists have been sounding alarms about firearms for at least a decade. In the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians came together and enacted a series of measures to reduce gun violence across the country. And it worked. Prior to 1996, the nation experienced approximately one mass shooting 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 Function of Current Regulations

Even during the Bondi tragedy, the nation's gun laws were not entirely useless. It has been suggested the alleged attackers possessed with bolt-action rifles and at least one straight-pull shotgun. These firearms can only fire a one round at a time, requiring a physical action to ready the next round. While these guns are capable of being discharged rapidly with lethal results, they remain significantly less rapid and less efficient than the large-magazine, semi-automatic rifles commonplace in overseas attacks. The number of deaths at Bondi could have been much greater if more advanced weapons had been accessible.

Preventing a future Bondi requires unity across all states. Regrettably, we have already seen cracks in the united front.

Legislation Showing Weakness

Yet, the horrific consequences of the incident reveals that existing gun laws are inadequate. Designed in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, decades have eroded their efficacy. Concerningly, there are currently more firearms in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur shooting, with some citizens in cities reportedly holding collections numbering in the hundreds.

We have been overconfident and it has cost us terribly.

The Road Ahead: Proposed Reforms

In the time after the Bondi attack, there have been numerous declarations regarding new gun laws. New South Wales in particular will shortly introduce a package of measures to reduce the collective risk from firearms. The federal government has proposed a new firearm surrender scheme, and there is potential for a countrywide gun database, despite the complexities of coordinating state and federal jurisdictions.

These measures are feasible if the nation works together. As noted, when it comes to firearm laws, the country is only as strong as its least stringent jurisdiction. This is the very nature of the Australian system – regulations in one state are much less meaningful if they can be bypassed with a journey across a state line.

Addressing Frequent Objections

There is the inevitable response that "firearms are not the killers, people kill people". This is accurate in the same sense that aircraft do not fly passengers, pilots do. Certainly, aircraft require operators, but it would be quite challenging for a pilot to move 500 people overseas without the aircraft. The mass slaughter witnessed at Bondi would be extremely difficult without firearms, and would have been significantly less lethal if the alleged terrorists had not had access to the firearms they possessed.

Balancing Need and Safety

There are valid needs for some Australians to possess firearms. Farm work or controlling vermin in rural areas is incredibly hard without them. A complete removal of guns from the country is impractical, as in some cases they are essential tools.

The achievable goal – what we must do – is to guarantee that gun laws are updated to accurately reflect the world we live in today. Australia's legislation have long been the admiration of the world, but time and distance has taken a toll and the nation is less secure as it previously was. It is vital to learn from the tragedy of Bondi seriously, and ensure that coming Australians are equally safe as past generations have been.

As one commentator remarked after the Bondi attack, "things like this just don't happen here". They don't, but only because the country has made concerted efforts to keep itself safe. As nightmarish as the incident was, there is an aspiration that it can become the last one the nation experiences.