🔗 Share this article

Following the tragedy of the horrific attack at Bondi, Australia is facing several pressing reckonings. There is a long-overdue national focus on anti-Jewish sentiment, an persistent worry about public safety, and inquiries about the way such an tragedy could occur. But, as viewed of a health professional and Australian Jew, the most important dialogue we are now having revolves around firearms.

A Decade of Cautions and a Successful Response

Public health specialists have been issuing warnings about firearms for a minimum of a ten-year period. In the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians united and enacted a suite of reforms to reduce gun violence across the country. And it worked. Prior to 1996, the nation experienced roughly one large-scale firearm incident per year. Over the following years, there have been vanishingly few major events, with none reaching the fatalities of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Tragedy and the Function of Existing Laws

Amidst the Bondi events, the nation's gun laws were not entirely useless. It has been suggested the individuals involved might have been armed with manually-operated long guns and a straight-pull shotgun. These firearms are limited to firing a one round at a time, requiring a physical action to ready the subsequent shot. Although these guns can be fired rapidly with lethal results, they remain far slower and less efficient than the large-magazine, semi-automatic rifles commonplace in international attacks. The casualty count at Bondi could have been much greater if more advanced firearms had been accessible.

Preventing another Bondi requires unity across all states. Regrettably, we have already seen cracks in the united front.

A System Under Strain

Yet, the terrible toll of the attack reveals that current firearm regulations are failing. Designed in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, years have eroded their effectiveness. Alarmingly, there are now a greater number of guns in Australia than before the Port Arthur massacre, with some individuals in urban areas owning collections numbering in the hundreds.

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

The Path Forward: Announced Reforms

Since the Bondi attack, there have been multiple declarations regarding new gun laws. The state of NSW in particular will shortly enact a suite of measures to mitigate the collective risk posed by firearms. The national government has announced a fresh firearm surrender scheme, and there is hope for a national firearms registry, despite the inherent challenges of coordinating state and federal governments.

These measures are only possible provided that the nation works together. As noted, when it comes to firearm laws, the country is only as strong as its weakest link. This is the reality of the Australian federation – regulations in one state are much less meaningful if they can be bypassed with a short drive across a state line.

Countering Frequent Arguments

We hear the inevitable response that "guns don't kill people, people kill people". This is accurate in the same sense that planes don't transport people, pilots do. Yes, aircraft require operators, but it would be quite challenging for a captain to transport 500 people overseas without the aircraft. The horrific violence witnessed at Bondi would be extremely difficult without firearms, and would have been far less damaging if the accused individuals had not had access to the firearms they possessed.

Balancing Need and Security

It is acknowledged there are legitimate needs for some Australians to own guns. Managing livestock or controlling vermin in rural areas is extremely difficult without them. A complete removal of guns from the country is impractical, as in some cases they are indispensable.

What we can do – the imperative action – is to ensure that gun laws are updated to better match the world we live in today. Australia's laws have historically been the envy of the world, but time and distance has done its work and the nation is no longer as safe as it previously was. It is vital to take the lessons of Bondi seriously, and make certain that future generations are as protected as previous generations have been.

A commentator remarked after the Bondi events, "such tragedies just don't happen here". This is true, but only because the country has made concerted efforts to keep itself safe. However horrific as the incident was, there is hope that it can become the final tragedy the nation ever sees.