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Following the tragedy of the awful attack at Bondi, Australia is confronting several pressing conversations. We are seeing a much-needed national focus on antisemitism, an persistent worry about national security, and questions about how such an event could happen. But, as viewed of a health professional and Jewish Australian, the most important dialogue we are now having revolves around firearms.

A Decade of Warnings and a Proven Response

Public health experts have been sounding alarms about guns for at least a decade. Following the events of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians came together and enacted a series of reforms to curb gun violence across the country. And it worked. Before 1996, the nation witnessed 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 shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Attack and the Function of Existing Regulations

Even during the Bondi tragedy, the nation's firearm regulations were not entirely useless. Reports indicate the individuals involved possessed with manually-operated long guns and at least one straight-pull shotgun. These weapons can only fire a single bullet at a time, requiring a manual operation to ready the subsequent shot. Although these guns are capable of being discharged quite quickly with devastating effect, they remain far slower and less efficient than the high-capacity, self-loading rifles commonplace in international mass shootings. The number of deaths at Bondi could have been much greater if more advanced weapons had been available.

Preventing another Bondi requires unity across all states. Regrettably, there are already cracks in the facade.

Legislation Showing Weakness

Yet, the terrible toll of the attack demonstrates that existing firearm regulations are inadequate. Designed in the late 1990s with the best of intentions, decades have worn away their effectiveness. Alarmingly, there are currently a greater number of guns in Australia than before the Port Arthur shooting, with some citizens in cities reportedly holding arsenals of hundreds of weapons.

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

The Road Ahead: Announced Changes

Since the Bondi tragedy, there have been numerous announcements regarding strengthened firearm legislation. The state of NSW specifically will shortly enact a package of reforms to mitigate the collective risk from firearms. The national government has proposed a fresh firearm surrender scheme, and there is hope for a countrywide gun database, despite the inherent challenges of aligning state and federal governments.

All of this are only possible if the nation works together. As noted, when it comes to firearm laws, 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 journey across a border.

Countering Frequent Arguments

There is the inevitable argument that "firearms are not the killers, individuals are". This is accurate in the identical way that planes don't transport people, aviators do. Certainly, aircraft require operators, but it would be quite challenging for a pilot to move 500 people overseas without the aircraft. The horrific violence witnessed at Bondi would be all but impossible without firearms, and would have been far less damaging if the alleged terrorists had not had access to the firearms they used.

Balancing Necessity and Safety

It is acknowledged there are valid needs for some Australians to own guns. Managing livestock or controlling vermin in rural areas is incredibly hard without them. A complete removal of firearms from the country is impractical, as in certain contexts they are indispensable.

What we can do – the imperative action – is to guarantee that firearm legislation are updated to accurately reflect the society we live in today. Australia's legislation have historically been the envy of the world, but time and distance 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 make certain that coming Australians are as protected as past generations have been.

A commentator observed 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 last one the nation experiences.