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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 spotlight on anti-Jewish sentiment, an persistent worry about national security, and inquiries about the way such an tragedy could occur. But, as viewed of a health professional and Jewish Australian, the paramount discussion we are finally having centers on firearms.

Ten Years of Cautions and a Successful Solution

Public health specialists have been sounding alarms about guns for a minimum of a ten-year period. Following the events of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians came together and enacted a suite of reforms to reduce gun violence across the country. The strategy succeeded. Before 1996, the nation experienced approximately one mass shooting per year. In the decades since, there have been extremely rare significant tragedies, with none reaching the death toll of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Tragedy and the Function of Current Regulations

Amidst the Bondi events, the nation's gun laws were not entirely useless. It has been suggested the individuals involved possessed with manually-operated long guns and a straight-pull shotgun. These firearms are limited to firing a one round at a time, requiring a manual operation to chamber the subsequent shot. While these guns can be fired quite quickly with lethal results, they remain significantly less rapid and more cumbersome than the high-capacity, self-loading rifles commonplace in overseas attacks. The number of deaths at Bondi could have been much greater if different weapons had been available.

Preventing another Bondi requires unity across all states. And unfortunately, we have already seen fissures in the facade.

A System Under Strain

Yet, the terrible consequences of the attack demonstrates that current firearm regulations are failing. Crafted in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, years have worn away their effectiveness. Concerningly, there are now a greater number of guns in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur massacre, with some individuals in cities owning collections numbering in the hundreds.

The nation has grown overconfident and it has exacted a terrible price.

The Path Forward: Announced Reforms

Since the Bondi attack, there have been multiple declarations regarding strengthened firearm legislation. The state of NSW specifically will shortly introduce a package of measures to reduce the collective risk from firearms. The national government has proposed a fresh firearm surrender scheme, and there is potential for a national firearms registry, notwithstanding the complexities of aligning state and federal governments.

All of this are feasible provided that the nation acts in unison. As noted, regarding gun control, the country is dependent on its weakest link. This is the very nature of the Australian system – regulations in one state are much less meaningful if they can be bypassed with a short drive across a border.

Addressing Frequent Arguments

We hear the inevitable 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, aircraft require operators, but it would be quite challenging for a captain to move 500 people overseas without the plane. The horrific violence seen at Bondi would be extremely difficult without guns, and would have been far less damaging if the alleged terrorists had not had access to the weapons they used.

Weighing Need and Safety

It is acknowledged there are valid needs for some Australians to possess firearms. Farm work or controlling vermin in many places is incredibly hard without them. A total ban of firearms from the country is not feasible, as in some cases they are indispensable.

What we can do – the imperative action – is to guarantee that firearm legislation are modernized to accurately reflect the society 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 once was. It is vital to learn from the tragedy of Bondi to heart, and ensure that coming Australians are equally safe as previous generations have been.

As one commentator observed after the Bondi attack, "such tragedies just don't happen here". They don't, but solely due to the fact that the country has collectively worked to maintain its security. As nightmarish as the incident was, there is an aspiration that it can become the final tragedy the nation experiences.