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Following the tragedy of the awful incident at Bondi, Australia is confronting multiple pressing conversations. There is a long-overdue national spotlight on anti-Jewish sentiment, an ongoing concern about national security, and questions about how such an tragedy could happen. But, as viewed of a public health expert and Australian Jew, the most important dialogue we are finally having centers on firearms.

Ten Years of Cautions and a Successful Response

Public health specialists have been sounding alarms about guns for at least a decade. In the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians united and enacted a suite of reforms to reduce gun violence nationwide. And it worked. Prior to 1996, the nation experienced approximately one large-scale firearm incident per year. In the decades since, there have been extremely rare significant tragedies, with none approaching the death toll of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Attack and the Function of Current Laws

Even during the Bondi events, the nation's firearm regulations were not entirely useless. It has been suggested the individuals involved possessed with bolt-action rifles and at least one straight-pull shotgun. These firearms are limited to firing a one round at a time, necessitating a manual operation to ready the next round. While these guns are capable of being discharged quite quickly with lethal results, they remain significantly less rapid and less efficient than the large-magazine, semi-automatic rifles commonplace in international mass shootings. The number of deaths at Bondi would've been far higher if different firearms had been available.

Stopping a future Bondi requires unity across all states. And unfortunately, we have already seen fissures in the facade.

Legislation Under Strain

However, the horrific consequences of the incident demonstrates that existing gun laws are failing. Designed in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, years have worn away their effectiveness. Concerningly, there are now a greater number of guns in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur shooting, with some citizens in urban areas owning arsenals numbering in the hundreds.

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

The Road Ahead: Announced Reforms

In the time after the Bondi attack, there have been numerous announcements regarding new gun laws. The state of NSW in particular will soon enact a suite of reforms to mitigate the collective risk from firearms. The national government has announced a fresh firearm surrender scheme, and there is hope for a countrywide gun database, despite the complexities of coordinating state and federal jurisdictions.

These measures are only possible if the nation works together. As noted, when it comes to gun control, the country is only as strong as its weakest link. This is the very nature of the Australian federation – laws in one state are easily circumvented if they can be bypassed with a journey across a border.

Countering Common Arguments

We hear the inevitable response that "guns don't kill people, people kill people". This is accurate in the same sense that aircraft do not fly passengers, pilots do. Yes, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be virtually impossible for a pilot to move 500 people overseas without the aircraft. The mass slaughter seen at Bondi would be extremely difficult without firearms, and would have been significantly less lethal if the alleged terrorists had not had access to the weapons they possessed.

Balancing Need and Safety

It is acknowledged there are valid reasons for some Australians to possess guns. Managing livestock or culling pests in many places is incredibly hard without them. A complete removal of guns from the country is impractical, as in certain contexts they are essential tools.

What we can do – what we must do – is to ensure that firearm legislation are updated to better match the society we live in today. Australia's legislation have long 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 critical to take the lessons of Bondi seriously, and ensure that coming Australians are as protected as past generations have been.

As one friend remarked after the Bondi events, "things like this just don't happen here". They don't, but only because the country has collectively worked to keep itself safe. However horrific as the attack was, there is hope that it can serve as the last one the nation experiences.