🔗 Share this article

Following the tragedy of the awful attack at Bondi, Australia is facing several critical reckonings. There is a long-overdue national spotlight on antisemitism, an ongoing worry about public safety, and inquiries about how such an tragedy could happen. But, from the perspective of a public health expert and Australian Jew, the most important discussion we are now having centers on firearms.

A Decade of Warnings and a Proven Response

Health specialists have been sounding alarms about firearms for a minimum of a ten-year period. In the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians came together and enacted a suite of reforms to reduce gun violence nationwide. The strategy succeeded. Prior to 1996, the nation experienced approximately one mass shooting per year. Over the following years, there have been extremely rare major events, with none approaching the death toll of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Tragedy and the Role of Existing Regulations

Amidst the Bondi tragedy, the nation's gun laws were not entirely useless. Reports indicate the alleged attackers might have been armed with manually-operated long guns and at least one straight-pull shotgun. These weapons are limited to firing a single bullet at a time, requiring a manual operation to chamber the next round. Although these guns can be fired rapidly with lethal results, they remain significantly less rapid and more cumbersome than the high-capacity, semi-automatic rifles commonplace in international mass shootings. The casualty count at Bondi would've been far higher if more advanced weapons had been accessible.

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

Legislation Under Strain

Yet, the horrific consequences of the attack reveals that existing firearm regulations are inadequate. Crafted in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, years have worn away their effectiveness. Concerningly, there are currently a greater number of guns in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur shooting, with some citizens in urban areas owning collections of hundreds of weapons.

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

The Path Forward: Announced Changes

Since the Bondi tragedy, there have been multiple declarations regarding new gun laws. The state of NSW specifically will shortly enact a package 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.

All of this are feasible provided that the nation acts in unison. As stated, when it comes to gun control, the country is only as strong as its weakest link. 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 border.

Addressing Common Objections

We hear the predictable argument that "firearms are not the killers, individuals are". This is accurate in the same sense that planes don't transport people, aviators do. Certainly, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be quite challenging for a captain to move 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 accused individuals had not had access to the weapons they possessed.

Balancing Necessity and Security

There are legitimate needs for some Australians to possess guns. Farm work or culling pests in many places is extremely difficult without them. A complete removal of guns from the country is impractical, as in certain contexts they are essential tools.

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 laws have long been the admiration of the world, but the passage of years has taken a toll and the nation is no longer as safe as it previously was. It is critical 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 attack, "such tragedies just don't happen here". They don't, but solely due to the fact that the country has made concerted efforts to keep itself safe. As nightmarish as the incident was, there is an aspiration that it can serve as the last one the nation ever sees.