🔗 Share this article

In the aftermath of the horrific incident at Bondi, Australia is confronting multiple pressing reckonings. There is a long-overdue national spotlight on anti-Jewish sentiment, an ongoing worry about public safety, and questions about how such an tragedy could occur. However, as viewed of a public health expert and Jewish Australian, the paramount discussion we are now having centers on firearms.

Ten Years of Cautions and a Proven Response

Health experts have been sounding alarms about guns for a minimum of a ten-year period. In the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians came together and implemented a suite of measures to curb gun violence nationwide. The strategy succeeded. Before 1996, the nation witnessed roughly one large-scale firearm incident per year. In the decades since, there have been extremely rare significant tragedies, with none reaching the fatalities of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Attack and the Role of Current Laws

Even during the Bondi tragedy, the nation's gun laws were partially effective. Reports indicate the individuals involved might have been armed with manually-operated long guns and a straight-pull shotgun. These firearms can only fire a single bullet at a time, necessitating a manual operation to chamber the subsequent shot. Although these guns are capable of being discharged rapidly with devastating effect, they remain significantly less rapid and less efficient than the large-magazine, self-loading rifles frequently used in overseas mass shootings. The number of deaths at Bondi could have been much greater if more advanced firearms had been accessible.

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

Legislation Under Strain

Yet, the horrific consequences of the attack demonstrates that existing firearm regulations are inadequate. Crafted in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, years have eroded their effectiveness. Alarmingly, there are now a greater number of guns in Australia than before the Port Arthur shooting, with some citizens in urban areas owning collections numbering in the hundreds.

We have been overconfident and it has cost us terribly.

The Path Forward: Proposed Changes

Since the Bondi tragedy, there have been numerous announcements regarding strengthened firearm legislation. The state of NSW in particular will soon introduce a package of measures to mitigate the collective risk from firearms. The national government has proposed a new gun buyback, and there is potential for a national firearms registry, despite the complexities of aligning state and federal governments.

All of this are only possible if the nation works together. As noted, when it comes to gun control, the country is only as strong as its weakest link. This is the reality of the Australian system – laws in one state are easily circumvented if they can be avoided with a journey across a state line.

Addressing Common Objections

We hear the predictable response that "guns don't kill people, people kill people". This is accurate in the identical way that aircraft do not fly passengers, aviators do. Certainly, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be virtually impossible for a pilot to transport 500 people internationally without the aircraft. The horrific violence witnessed at Bondi would be extremely difficult without guns, and would have been significantly less lethal if the alleged terrorists had been denied access to the weapons they possessed.

Weighing Need and Security

There are legitimate needs for some Australians to own firearms. Farm work or culling pests in rural areas is incredibly hard without them. A total ban of guns from the country is not feasible, as in some cases they are indispensable.

What we can do – the imperative action – is to ensure that gun laws are modernized to better match the society we live in today. Australia's legislation have historically been the envy of the world, but the passage of years has done its work and the nation is no longer as safe as it once was. It is vital to take the lessons of Bondi seriously, and ensure that coming Australians are equally safe as previous generations have been.

A commentator observed after the Bondi events, "such tragedies just don't happen here". This is true, but solely due to the fact that the country has made concerted efforts to keep itself safe. However horrific as the incident was, there is an aspiration that it can serve as the last one the nation ever sees.