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In the aftermath of the awful attack at Bondi, Australia is confronting several pressing conversations. There is a much-needed national focus on anti-Jewish sentiment, an ongoing concern about national security, and inquiries about how such an event could occur. But, from the perspective of a health professional and Jewish Australian, the paramount dialogue we are finally 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. In the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians united and implemented a series of reforms to curb gun violence across the country. And it worked. Before 1996, the nation witnessed approximately one mass shooting per year. Over the following years, there have been extremely rare major events, with none reaching the death toll of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Tragedy and the Role of Current Laws

Even during the Bondi events, the nation's firearm regulations were not entirely useless. Reports indicate the alleged attackers possessed with bolt-action rifles and at least one straight-pull shotgun. These weapons are limited to firing a one round at a time, requiring a physical action to chamber the subsequent shot. Although these guns can be fired quite quickly with lethal results, they remain far slower and more cumbersome than the high-capacity, semi-automatic rifles frequently used in international mass shootings. The casualty count at Bondi could have been much greater if more advanced firearms had been accessible.

Preventing another Bondi demands national cohesion. And unfortunately, there are already fissures in the facade.

A System Showing Weakness

However, the terrible consequences of the incident reveals that current 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 individuals in urban areas owning arsenals of hundreds of weapons.

We have been overconfident and it has cost us terribly.

The Road Forward: Proposed Reforms

Since the Bondi attack, there have been numerous announcements regarding strengthened gun laws. New South Wales specifically will soon enact a package of reforms to mitigate the public danger from firearms. The national government has announced a fresh gun buyback, and there is potential for a national firearms registry, notwithstanding the inherent challenges of aligning state and federal governments.

All of this are only possible provided that the nation works together. As noted, when it comes to firearm laws, the country is dependent on its least stringent jurisdiction. This is the reality of the Australian federation – laws in one state are much less meaningful if they can be bypassed with a short drive across a state line.

Countering Frequent Arguments

There is the inevitable response that "firearms are not the killers, people kill people". This is accurate in the identical way that aircraft do not fly passengers, aviators do. Certainly, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be virtually impossible for a captain to move 500 people overseas without the plane. The mass slaughter seen at Bondi would be all but impossible without guns, and would have been far less damaging if the alleged terrorists had been denied access to the weapons they possessed.

Weighing Necessity and Safety

There are valid needs for some Australians to possess guns. Managing livestock or culling pests in many places is incredibly hard without them. A total ban of firearms from the country is impractical, as in some cases they are indispensable.

The achievable goal – what we must do – is to ensure that firearm legislation are updated to accurately reflect the society we live in today. Australia's laws 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 vital to take the lessons 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, "such tragedies just don't happen here". They don't, but solely due to the fact that the country has made concerted efforts to keep itself safe. However horrific as the attack was, there is an aspiration that it can serve as the last one the nation ever sees.