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Following the tragedy of the awful incident at Bondi, Australia is facing multiple critical conversations. There is a much-needed national spotlight on anti-Jewish sentiment, an ongoing worry about national security, and questions about how such an tragedy could occur. But, from the perspective of a public health expert and Jewish Australian, the paramount discussion we are now having centers on firearms.

A Decade of Warnings and a Proven Response

Health specialists have been sounding alarms about guns for at least a ten-year period. In the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians came together and implemented a suite of measures to curb gun violence across the country. The strategy succeeded. Before 1996, the nation witnessed roughly one large-scale firearm incident per year. Over the following years, there have been vanishingly few major events, with none reaching the death toll of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Tragedy and the Function of Current Regulations

Even during 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 at least one straight-pull shotgun. These firearms can only fire a single bullet at a time, necessitating a manual operation to ready the subsequent shot. Although these guns can be fired quite quickly with lethal results, they remain significantly less rapid and less efficient than the large-magazine, self-loading rifles commonplace in international attacks. The casualty count at Bondi could have been much greater if different firearms had been available.

Stopping a future Bondi requires unity across all states. Regrettably, there are already cracks in the facade.

A System Showing Weakness

However, the horrific consequences of the incident demonstrates that current firearm regulations are inadequate. Designed in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, years have eroded their efficacy. Concerningly, there are now a greater number of guns in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur massacre, with some citizens in cities reportedly holding collections numbering in the hundreds.

We have been complacent and it has exacted a terrible price.

The Road Ahead: Proposed Changes

Since the Bondi attack, there have been numerous announcements regarding strengthened firearm legislation. The state of NSW in particular will soon introduce a suite of measures to mitigate the public danger from firearms. The national government has announced a fresh firearm surrender scheme, and there is hope for a countrywide gun database, notwithstanding the inherent challenges of coordinating state and federal jurisdictions.

These measures are only possible if the nation acts in unison. As noted, regarding gun control, the country is dependent on its least stringent jurisdiction. This is the very nature of the Australian federation – laws in one state are easily circumvented if they can be avoided with a short drive across a state line.

Countering Common Objections

We hear the predictable argument that "guns don't kill people, people kill people". This is accurate in the same sense that planes don't transport people, aviators do. Yes, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be quite challenging for a captain to transport 500 people internationally without the plane. The horrific violence seen at Bondi would be all but impossible without firearms, and would have been significantly less lethal if the alleged terrorists had been denied access to the firearms they possessed.

Weighing Necessity and Safety

There are legitimate needs for some Australians to possess guns. Farm work or culling pests in rural areas is incredibly hard without them. A complete removal of firearms 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 updated to better match 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 no longer as safe as it once was. It is critical to learn from the tragedy of Bondi to heart, and ensure that coming Australians are as protected as previous generations have been.

As one friend remarked after the Bondi events, "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 attack was, there is an aspiration that it can serve as the last one the nation ever sees.