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In the aftermath of the awful incident at Bondi, Australia is confronting several pressing conversations. There is a much-needed national spotlight on anti-Jewish sentiment, an persistent concern about public safety, and inquiries about how such an event could happen. However, from the perspective of a health professional and Jewish Australian, the paramount discussion we are now having centers on firearms.

A Decade of Cautions and a Successful Solution

Public health specialists have been issuing warnings about firearms for a minimum of a decade. Following the events of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians united and implemented a suite of measures to curb gun violence across the country. The strategy succeeded. Prior to 1996, the nation experienced approximately one mass shooting per year. In the decades since, there have been extremely rare major events, with none approaching the fatalities of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Attack and the Role of Current Laws

Amidst the Bondi tragedy, the nation's firearm regulations were partially effective. Reports indicate the individuals involved might have been armed with bolt-action rifles and a straight-pull shotgun. These firearms are limited to firing a single bullet at a time, necessitating a manual operation to chamber the next round. Although these guns can be fired quite quickly with devastating effect, they remain far slower and more cumbersome than the high-capacity, self-loading rifles commonplace in overseas attacks. The casualty count at Bondi could have been much greater if different weapons had been available.

Stopping a future Bondi requires national cohesion. Regrettably, we have already seen fissures in the facade.

Legislation Showing Weakness

However, the horrific toll of the incident demonstrates that existing gun laws are failing. Designed in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, decades have worn away their effectiveness. Concerningly, there are now a greater number of guns in Australia than before the Port Arthur shooting, with some citizens in urban areas reportedly holding collections numbering in the hundreds.

The nation has grown complacent and it has cost us terribly.

The Path Ahead: Announced Changes

Since the Bondi tragedy, there have been multiple announcements regarding strengthened firearm legislation. The state of NSW in particular will soon enact a suite of measures to mitigate the public danger from firearms. The national government has announced a fresh gun buyback, and there is potential for a countrywide gun database, notwithstanding the complexities of aligning state and federal governments.

All of this are only possible if the nation works together. As stated, regarding gun control, the country is dependent on its least stringent jurisdiction. This is the very nature of the Australian federation – regulations in one state are much less meaningful if they can be bypassed with a journey across a border.

Countering Common Objections

There is the predictable argument that "guns don't kill people, individuals are". This is true 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 transport 500 people internationally without the aircraft. The mass slaughter witnessed at Bondi would be all but impossible without firearms, and would have been significantly less lethal if the accused individuals had not had access to the firearms they used.

Weighing Need and Safety

It is acknowledged there are legitimate needs for some Australians to possess firearms. Managing livestock or culling pests in many places is incredibly hard without them. A complete removal of guns 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 modernized to better match the society we live in today. Australia's laws have long been the envy of the world, but time and distance has taken a toll and the nation is less secure as it once was. It is vital to learn from the tragedy of Bondi seriously, and ensure that future generations are equally safe as past generations have been.

A friend observed after the Bondi events, "things like this just don't happen here". They don't, 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 an aspiration that it can become the last one the nation ever sees.