🔗 Share this article

In the aftermath of the awful attack at Bondi, Australia is confronting several pressing conversations. We are seeing a much-needed national focus on antisemitism, an persistent concern about national security, and questions about the way such an tragedy could occur. However, as viewed of a health professional and Jewish Australian, the paramount discussion we are finally having revolves around firearms.

A Decade of Cautions and a Successful Solution

Public health experts have been issuing warnings about firearms for at least a ten-year period. Following the events of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians united and enacted a series of reforms to reduce gun violence across the country. The strategy succeeded. Prior to 1996, the nation experienced roughly one large-scale firearm incident per year. Over the following years, there have been extremely rare significant tragedies, with none reaching the fatalities of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Tragedy and the Function of Existing Laws

Even during the Bondi tragedy, the nation's gun laws were not entirely useless. It has been suggested the individuals involved might have been armed with bolt-action rifles and at least one straight-pull shotgun. These firearms can only fire a single bullet at a time, necessitating a manual operation to chamber the next round. While these guns are capable of being discharged quite quickly with lethal results, they remain significantly less rapid and more cumbersome than the large-magazine, self-loading rifles commonplace in overseas attacks. The casualty count at Bondi would've been far higher if more advanced firearms had been accessible.

Stopping a future Bondi requires national cohesion. And unfortunately, there are already cracks in the united front.

Legislation Under Strain

However, the horrific toll of the incident demonstrates that current firearm regulations are inadequate. Crafted in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, years have eroded their efficacy. Concerningly, there are now more firearms in Australia than before the Port Arthur massacre, with some citizens in urban areas reportedly holding arsenals of hundreds of weapons.

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

The Road Ahead: Announced Changes

Since the Bondi tragedy, there have been numerous declarations regarding new gun laws. New South Wales in particular will shortly introduce a suite of reforms to reduce the public danger from firearms. The federal government has announced a fresh firearm surrender scheme, and there is hope for a national firearms registry, despite the inherent challenges of aligning state and federal governments.

These measures are feasible if the nation works together. As stated, when it comes to firearm laws, the country is only as strong as its least stringent jurisdiction. This is the reality of the Australian system – regulations in one state are easily circumvented if they can be bypassed with a journey across a state line.

Addressing Common Objections

We hear the predictable response that "firearms are not the killers, people kill people". This is accurate in the identical way that aircraft do not fly passengers, aviators do. Certainly, aircraft require operators, but it would be quite challenging for a pilot to transport 500 people internationally without the plane. The horrific violence seen at Bondi would be extremely difficult without guns, and would have been significantly less lethal if the accused individuals had been denied access to the weapons they used.

Weighing Necessity and Security

It is acknowledged there are legitimate reasons for some Australians to possess firearms. Managing livestock or culling pests in many places is incredibly hard without them. A total ban of firearms from the country is not feasible, as in some cases they are indispensable.

The achievable goal – what we must do – is to guarantee that gun laws are modernized to better match the world we live in today. Australia's laws have long 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 to heart, and ensure that coming Australians are equally safe as past generations have been.

A friend observed after the Bondi events, "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 serve as the final tragedy the nation experiences.