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In the aftermath of the awful incident at Bondi, Australia is facing multiple critical reckonings. There is a much-needed national spotlight on antisemitism, an ongoing concern about public safety, and questions about how such an event could happen. However, as viewed of a health professional and Jewish Australian, the paramount dialogue we are finally having centers on firearms.

Ten Years of Warnings and a Successful Response

Public health specialists have been issuing warnings about firearms for a minimum of a decade. In the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians came together and enacted a series of reforms to curb gun violence nationwide. And it worked. Before 1996, the nation witnessed approximately 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 shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Attack and the Function of Current Laws

Even during the Bondi tragedy, the nation's firearm regulations were partially effective. It has been suggested the alleged attackers might have been armed with bolt-action rifles and a straight-pull shotgun. These weapons can only fire a one round at a time, requiring a physical action to chamber the subsequent shot. While these guns are capable of being discharged rapidly with lethal results, they remain significantly less rapid and less efficient than the large-magazine, semi-automatic rifles commonplace in overseas attacks. The casualty count at Bondi could have been much greater if different firearms had been available.

Preventing another Bondi demands unity across all states. And unfortunately, we have already seen fissures in the facade.

Legislation Showing Weakness

Yet, the horrific consequences of the attack reveals that current gun laws are inadequate. Designed in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, decades have eroded their effectiveness. Alarmingly, there are now a greater number of guns in Australia than before the Port Arthur shooting, with some citizens in cities reportedly holding arsenals numbering in the hundreds.

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

The Path Ahead: Announced Changes

In the time after the Bondi tragedy, there have been multiple declarations regarding new firearm legislation. New South Wales in particular will soon introduce a suite of reforms to mitigate the collective risk posed by firearms. The federal government has proposed a fresh firearm surrender scheme, and there is potential for a countrywide gun database, despite the complexities of coordinating state and federal jurisdictions.

All of this are only possible if the nation acts in unison. As noted, when it comes to gun control, the country is dependent on its weakest link. This is the very nature of the Australian system – laws in one state are easily circumvented if they can be avoided with a journey across a state line.

Countering Frequent Objections

There is the inevitable argument that "guns don't kill people, individuals are". This is accurate in the same sense that planes don't transport people, pilots do. Certainly, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be virtually impossible for a captain to transport 500 people internationally without the aircraft. The horrific violence seen at Bondi would be all but impossible without guns, and would have been significantly less lethal if the alleged terrorists had been denied access to the firearms they used.

Balancing Necessity and Security

There are legitimate needs for some Australians to possess firearms. Managing livestock or culling pests in rural areas is incredibly hard without them. A total ban of firearms from the country is not feasible, as in some cases they are indispensable.

What we can do – what we must do – is to guarantee that firearm legislation are updated to accurately reflect 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 no longer as safe as it previously was. It is vital to take the lessons of Bondi to heart, and make certain that coming Australians are as protected as past generations have been.

A commentator observed after the Bondi attack, "such tragedies just don't happen here". They don't, but only because the country has collectively worked to maintain its security. However horrific as the attack was, there is an aspiration that it can serve as the last one the nation ever sees.