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In the aftermath of the horrific attack at Bondi, Australia is facing multiple critical conversations. We are seeing a much-needed national focus on anti-Jewish sentiment, an persistent worry about national security, and inquiries about how such an tragedy could happen. But, as viewed of a public health expert and Australian Jew, the most important dialogue we are now having revolves around firearms.

Ten Years of Cautions and a Proven Response

Health experts have been sounding alarms about guns for at least a ten-year period. In the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians came together and implemented a suite of reforms to curb gun violence nationwide. And it worked. Before 1996, the nation witnessed approximately 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 incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Attack and the Role of Current Laws

Even during the Bondi events, the nation's firearm regulations were not entirely useless. It has been suggested the individuals involved might have been armed 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 are capable of being discharged quite quickly with lethal results, they remain far slower and less efficient than the high-capacity, self-loading rifles commonplace in overseas mass shootings. The number of deaths at Bondi could have been much greater if different firearms had been accessible.

Preventing a future Bondi demands unity across all states. Regrettably, there are already cracks in the united front.

Legislation Under Strain

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 eroded their effectiveness. Concerningly, there are currently a greater number of guns in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur massacre, with some individuals in urban areas reportedly holding arsenals of hundreds of weapons.

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

The Path Ahead: Announced Reforms

Since the Bondi attack, there have been numerous declarations regarding strengthened firearm legislation. New South Wales in particular will shortly enact a package of measures to reduce the collective risk posed by firearms. The federal government has announced a new firearm surrender scheme, and there is hope for a national firearms registry, notwithstanding the inherent challenges of aligning state and federal jurisdictions.

All of this are feasible provided that the nation works together. As stated, regarding firearm laws, the country is dependent on its least stringent jurisdiction. This is the reality of the Australian federation – regulations in one state are easily circumvented if they can be avoided with a journey across a state line.

Addressing Frequent Arguments

There is the inevitable argument 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, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be virtually impossible for a pilot to move 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 been denied access to the firearms they used.

Balancing Necessity and Safety

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

What we can do – the imperative action – is to guarantee that gun laws are modernized to better match the society we live in today. Australia's legislation have long been the envy of the world, but time and distance has done its work and the nation is less secure as it once was. It is vital to take the lessons of Bondi seriously, and ensure that future generations are equally safe 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. However horrific as the attack was, there is an aspiration that it can become the final tragedy the nation experiences.