🔗 Share this article

Following the tragedy of the awful incident at Bondi, Australia is facing several pressing reckonings. We are seeing a much-needed national spotlight on anti-Jewish sentiment, an ongoing concern about national security, and questions about the way such an tragedy could happen. However, as viewed of a health professional and Jewish Australian, the paramount discussion we are finally having centers on firearms.

Ten Years of Cautions and a Proven Response

Health specialists have been sounding alarms about guns for a minimum of a ten-year period. In the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians united and enacted a suite of measures to reduce gun violence nationwide. The strategy succeeded. Before 1996, the nation witnessed roughly one mass shooting per year. In the decades since, there have been extremely rare major events, with none reaching the death toll of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Attack and the Function of Existing 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 a straight-pull shotgun. These firearms are limited to firing a single bullet at a time, necessitating a physical action to chamber the subsequent shot. Although these guns can be fired quite quickly with lethal results, they remain significantly less rapid and less efficient than the high-capacity, semi-automatic rifles frequently used in overseas mass shootings. The casualty count at Bondi could have been much greater if more advanced firearms had been available.

Stopping a future Bondi demands national cohesion. And unfortunately, we have already seen cracks in the united front.

A System Showing Weakness

Yet, the horrific toll of the attack demonstrates that current firearm regulations are failing. Designed in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, decades have worn away their effectiveness. Alarmingly, there are now more firearms in Australia than before the Port Arthur shooting, with some citizens in cities reportedly holding arsenals numbering in the hundreds.

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

The Path Forward: Announced Reforms

Since the Bondi attack, there have been numerous announcements regarding new gun laws. The state of NSW in particular will soon introduce a package of reforms to mitigate the collective risk posed by firearms. The national government has announced a fresh firearm surrender scheme, and there is hope for a countrywide gun database, despite the complexities of aligning state and federal governments.

All of this are feasible provided that the nation acts in unison. As stated, when it comes to gun control, the country is dependent on its weakest link. This is the very nature of the Australian system – regulations in one state are easily circumvented if they can be bypassed with a short drive across a state line.

Countering Common Objections

We hear the inevitable argument that "guns don't kill people, people kill people". This is true in the identical way 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 mass slaughter seen at Bondi would be all but impossible without guns, and would have been significantly less lethal if the accused individuals had been denied access to the firearms they used.

Balancing Necessity and Safety

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 guns from the country is impractical, as in certain contexts they are essential tools.

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

As one friend observed after the Bondi events, "things like this just don't happen here". They don't, but only because the country has collectively worked to maintain its security. As nightmarish as the incident was, there is an aspiration that it can serve as the last one the nation ever sees.