🔗 Share this article The nation's Gun Laws: A Global Example That Must Persist, Especially After Bondi Following the tragedy of the awful incident at Bondi, Australia is confronting several critical reckonings. We are seeing a long-overdue national focus on antisemitism, an persistent worry about national security, and questions about the way such an event could happen. However, from the perspective of a public health expert and Australian Jew, the most important discussion we are now having revolves around firearms. Ten Years of Cautions and a Successful Solution Public health specialists have been issuing warnings about guns for a minimum of a ten-year period. Following the events of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians united and implemented a suite of reforms to curb gun violence nationwide. And it worked. Prior to 1996, the nation witnessed roughly one mass shooting per year. In the decades since, there have been extremely rare major events, with none approaching the fatalities of the incidents in the 1980s and 1990s. This Recent Attack and the Role of Current Laws Amidst the Bondi tragedy, the nation's firearm regulations were not entirely useless. 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 one round at a time, necessitating a physical action to ready the next round. Although these guns are capable of being discharged rapidly with devastating effect, they remain far slower and less efficient than the large-magazine, self-loading rifles frequently used in international attacks. The casualty count at Bondi could have been much greater if different weapons had been accessible. Stopping a future Bondi requires unity across all states. And unfortunately, we have already seen cracks in the united front. A System Showing Weakness Yet, the horrific consequences of the attack demonstrates that existing gun laws are inadequate. Designed in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, decades have eroded their efficacy. Concerningly, there are now more firearms in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur massacre, with some citizens in cities owning arsenals of hundreds of weapons. The nation has grown overconfident and it has cost us terribly. The Road Forward: Proposed Reforms In the time after the Bondi tragedy, there have been multiple announcements regarding strengthened gun laws. New South Wales specifically will shortly introduce a suite of measures to mitigate the collective risk posed by firearms. The national government has proposed a new gun buyback, and there is hope for a countrywide gun database, despite the inherent challenges of aligning state and federal jurisdictions. All of this are only possible provided that the nation acts in unison. As stated, regarding gun control, the country is dependent on its weakest link. This is the very nature of the Australian federation – regulations in one state are easily circumvented if they can be avoided with a journey across a border. Countering Common Arguments We hear the predictable argument that "firearms are not the killers, individuals are". This is true in the same sense that planes don't transport people, aviators do. Certainly, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be quite challenging for a captain to transport 500 people overseas without the aircraft. The horrific violence seen at Bondi would be extremely difficult without firearms, and would have been far less damaging if the alleged terrorists had not had access to the weapons they used. Balancing Necessity and Security It is acknowledged there are valid needs for some Australians to possess guns. Farm work or controlling vermin in rural areas is incredibly hard without them. A complete removal of firearms from the country is impractical, as in some cases they are indispensable. What we can do – what we must do – is to guarantee that firearm legislation are updated to better match the society we live in today. Australia's laws have long been the envy of the world, but the passage of years has taken a toll and the nation is no longer as safe as it previously was. It is critical to learn from the tragedy of Bondi seriously, and make certain that future generations are as protected as previous generations have been. As one commentator remarked after the Bondi events, "things like this just don't happen here". This is true, but only because the country has made concerted efforts to maintain its security. However horrific as the incident was, there is an aspiration that it can serve as the final tragedy the nation experiences.