🔗 Share this article

Following the tragedy of the awful attack at Bondi, Australia is confronting multiple pressing reckonings. There is a much-needed national spotlight on antisemitism, an persistent worry about national security, and questions about how such an event could happen. But, as viewed of a public health expert and Jewish Australian, the paramount dialogue we are finally having centers on firearms.

A Decade of Cautions and a Successful Solution

Public health experts have been sounding alarms about firearms for a minimum of a ten-year period. Following the events of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians came together and implemented a suite of measures to reduce gun violence nationwide. And it worked. Prior to 1996, the nation experienced roughly one large-scale firearm incident per year. In the decades since, there have been vanishingly few significant tragedies, with none reaching the fatalities of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Tragedy and the Function of Current Regulations

Even during the Bondi tragedy, the nation's gun laws were partially effective. 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 physical action to chamber the subsequent shot. 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, semi-automatic rifles commonplace in international mass shootings. The number of deaths at Bondi would've been far higher if more advanced firearms had been available.

Stopping another Bondi requires national cohesion. And unfortunately, there are already fissures in the facade.

A System Showing Weakness

Yet, the horrific consequences of the incident reveals that current gun laws are failing. Designed in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, decades have eroded their efficacy. Alarmingly, there are currently a greater number of guns in Australia than before the Port Arthur massacre, with some individuals in urban areas owning collections of hundreds of weapons.

The nation has grown complacent and it has exacted a terrible price.

The Road Forward: Proposed Reforms

In the time after the Bondi attack, there have been numerous declarations regarding new gun laws. New South Wales specifically will shortly introduce a suite of measures to mitigate the collective risk from firearms. The national government has announced a new firearm surrender scheme, and there is potential for a countrywide gun database, notwithstanding the complexities of coordinating state and federal jurisdictions.

These measures are only possible if the nation acts in unison. As stated, when it comes to gun control, the country is dependent on its weakest link. This is the reality of the Australian federation – laws in one state are easily circumvented if they can be bypassed with a short drive across a border.

Countering Frequent Objections

We hear the predictable response 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 quite challenging for a pilot to move 500 people internationally without the aircraft. The mass slaughter seen at Bondi would be all but impossible without guns, and would have been significantly less lethal if the alleged terrorists had not had access to the firearms they used.

Balancing Need and Safety

It is acknowledged there are valid needs for some Australians to possess firearms. Managing livestock or culling pests in many places is extremely difficult without them. A total ban of firearms from the country is impractical, as in some cases they are indispensable.

What we can do – what we must do – is to ensure that gun laws are modernized to accurately reflect 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 less secure as it previously was. It is vital to learn from the tragedy of Bondi seriously, and ensure that coming Australians are as protected as previous generations have been.

A friend observed after the Bondi events, "things like this just don't happen here". This is true, but solely due to the fact that the country has made concerted efforts to maintain its security. As nightmarish as the attack was, there is hope that it can serve as the last one the nation ever sees.