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In the aftermath of the awful attack at Bondi, Australia is facing multiple pressing conversations. We are seeing a long-overdue national spotlight on antisemitism, an ongoing worry about national security, and inquiries about how such an tragedy could happen. However, from the perspective of a public health expert and Jewish Australian, the most important discussion we are now having revolves around firearms.

A Decade of Warnings and a Proven Response

Public health specialists have been issuing warnings about guns for a minimum of a decade. In the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians came together and implemented a suite of measures to reduce gun violence nationwide. And it worked. Before 1996, the nation witnessed approximately one mass shooting per year. In the decades since, there have been vanishingly few major events, with none approaching the fatalities of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Attack and the Role of Current Laws

Even during the Bondi events, the nation's gun laws were not entirely useless. Reports indicate the individuals involved possessed with manually-operated long guns and at least one straight-pull shotgun. These firearms are limited to firing a single bullet at a time, requiring a manual operation to ready the subsequent shot. While these guns can be fired rapidly with lethal results, they remain far slower 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 firearms had been available.

Preventing another Bondi requires national cohesion. And unfortunately, we have already seen fissures in the facade.

Legislation Showing Weakness

However, the horrific consequences of the attack demonstrates that current gun laws are failing. Crafted in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, decades have worn away their efficacy. Concerningly, there are currently a greater number of guns in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur shooting, with some citizens in cities owning arsenals numbering in the hundreds.

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

The Road Forward: Proposed Reforms

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

All of this are feasible if the nation works together. 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 avoided with a short drive across a state line.

Countering Common Objections

There is the inevitable argument that "firearms are not the killers, individuals are". This is accurate in the identical way that aircraft do not fly passengers, aviators do. Yes, aircraft require operators, but it would be virtually impossible for a captain to transport 500 people overseas without the plane. The mass slaughter witnessed at Bondi would be all but impossible without firearms, and would have been far less damaging if the accused individuals had not had access to the firearms they possessed.

Weighing Need and Safety

There are valid needs for some Australians to possess guns. Managing livestock or culling pests in rural areas is extremely difficult without them. A total ban of firearms from the country is impractical, as in some cases they are indispensable.

What we can do – 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 the passage of years has done its work and the nation is less secure as it previously was. It is critical to learn from the tragedy of Bondi to heart, and ensure that future generations are equally safe as previous generations have been.

As one commentator observed 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. As nightmarish as the attack was, there is an aspiration that it can become the final tragedy the nation ever sees.