🔗 Share this article

Following the tragedy of the awful attack at Bondi, Australia is facing several pressing conversations. There is a much-needed national spotlight on anti-Jewish sentiment, an persistent worry about public safety, and questions about the way such an event could happen. But, from the perspective of a health professional and Australian Jew, the most important discussion we are finally having revolves around firearms.

Ten Years of Warnings and a Successful Solution

Health specialists have been sounding alarms about firearms for a minimum of a ten-year period. Following the events of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians united and implemented a series of measures to curb gun violence nationwide. The strategy succeeded. Before 1996, the nation witnessed roughly one mass shooting per year. Over the following years, there have been vanishingly few significant tragedies, with none approaching the death toll of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Attack and the Function of Existing Regulations

Even during the Bondi tragedy, the nation's gun laws were not entirely useless. Reports indicate the alleged attackers might have been armed with bolt-action rifles and a straight-pull shotgun. These weapons can only fire a one round at a time, necessitating a manual operation to chamber the subsequent shot. While these guns can be fired quite quickly with devastating effect, they remain significantly less rapid and less efficient than the large-magazine, semi-automatic rifles frequently used in overseas attacks. The number of deaths at Bondi would've been far higher if more advanced firearms had been accessible.

Stopping another Bondi requires national cohesion. And unfortunately, we have already seen cracks in the united front.

A System Under Strain

Yet, the terrible toll of the attack reveals that existing gun laws are failing. Designed in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, decades have worn away their efficacy. Concerningly, there are now a greater number of guns in Australia than before the Port Arthur massacre, with some individuals in urban areas reportedly holding collections numbering in the hundreds.

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

The Path Forward: Proposed Reforms

In the time after the Bondi tragedy, there have been multiple declarations regarding new gun laws. New South Wales specifically will shortly enact a suite of reforms to reduce the public danger posed by firearms. The federal government has announced a fresh firearm surrender scheme, and there is hope for a national firearms registry, notwithstanding the complexities of aligning state and federal jurisdictions.

All of this are feasible if the nation works together. As stated, when it comes to gun control, the country is only as strong as its weakest link. This is the very nature of the Australian system – regulations in one state are much less meaningful if they can be bypassed with a journey across a border.

Countering Frequent Arguments

We hear the inevitable argument that "firearms are not the killers, individuals are". This is accurate in the same sense that aircraft do not fly passengers, pilots do. Yes, aircraft require operators, but it would be virtually impossible for a captain to transport 500 people internationally without the plane. The horrific violence witnessed at Bondi would be all but impossible without firearms, and would have been significantly less lethal if the alleged terrorists had been denied access to the firearms they used.

Balancing Necessity and Security

There are legitimate reasons for some Australians to possess guns. Farm work or culling pests in rural areas is extremely difficult without them. A total ban of firearms from the country is impractical, as in certain contexts 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 historically 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 vital to learn from the tragedy of Bondi to heart, and ensure that future generations are equally safe as past generations have been.

A friend remarked after the Bondi attack, "such tragedies 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 ever sees.