🔗 Share this article

In the aftermath of the awful attack at Bondi, Australia is facing several pressing reckonings. We are seeing a much-needed national focus on antisemitism, an ongoing concern about national security, and questions about how such an tragedy could occur. However, from the perspective of a health professional and Jewish Australian, the paramount dialogue we are finally having revolves around firearms.

A Decade of Cautions and a Proven Response

Health experts have been issuing warnings about firearms for a minimum of a ten-year period. In the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians came together and enacted a series of reforms to reduce gun violence nationwide. The strategy succeeded. Prior to 1996, the nation witnessed roughly one mass shooting per year. In the decades since, there have been vanishingly few significant tragedies, with none approaching the fatalities of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Attack and the Function of Existing Regulations

Amidst the Bondi events, the nation's firearm regulations were partially effective. Reports indicate the alleged attackers possessed with manually-operated long guns and a straight-pull shotgun. These weapons can only fire a one round at a time, requiring a physical action to ready the subsequent shot. Although these guns can be fired quite quickly with devastating effect, they remain far slower and more cumbersome than the large-magazine, self-loading rifles commonplace in international mass shootings. The casualty count at Bondi would've been far higher if more advanced firearms had been accessible.

Stopping another Bondi requires unity across all states. Regrettably, we have already seen cracks in the facade.

Legislation Under Strain

However, the horrific toll of the attack reveals that existing gun laws are inadequate. Designed in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, years have worn away their effectiveness. Alarmingly, there are now more firearms 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 overconfident and it has exacted a terrible price.

The Road Forward: Announced Changes

Since the Bondi attack, there have been multiple announcements regarding new gun laws. New South Wales specifically will soon enact a suite of measures to mitigate the public danger from firearms. The national government has proposed a fresh firearm surrender scheme, and there is potential for a countrywide gun database, notwithstanding the inherent challenges of coordinating state and federal governments.

All of this are feasible 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 much less meaningful if they can be avoided with a short drive across a state line.

Countering Frequent Arguments

We hear the predictable argument that "guns don't kill people, individuals are". This is true in the same sense that planes don't transport people, pilots do. Certainly, aircraft require operators, but it would be virtually impossible for a pilot to transport 500 people overseas without the aircraft. The horrific violence seen at Bondi would be all but impossible without guns, and would have been significantly less lethal if the accused individuals had been denied access to the firearms they possessed.

Balancing Need and Security

There are valid needs for some Australians to possess 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.

The achievable goal – what we must do – is to ensure that gun laws are updated to better match the world we live in today. Australia's laws have long been the admiration of the world, but time and distance 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 make certain that coming Australians are as protected as previous generations have been.

As one commentator observed after the Bondi events, "things like this 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.