🔗 Share this article The nation's Gun Legislation: A Global Model That Needs to Persist, Particularly After Bondi Following the tragedy of the awful attack at Bondi, Australia is facing several critical conversations. We are seeing a long-overdue national spotlight on antisemitism, an ongoing worry about national security, and inquiries about the way such an tragedy could occur. But, as viewed of a health professional and Jewish Australian, the paramount discussion we are now having revolves around firearms. A Decade of Cautions and a Successful Response Public health specialists have been sounding alarms about firearms for at least a decade. In the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians united and enacted a suite of measures to reduce gun violence across the country. And it worked. Prior to 1996, the nation experienced roughly one large-scale firearm incident per year. In the decades since, there have been vanishingly few major events, with none approaching the death toll of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s. This Recent Attack and the Role of Existing Laws Amidst the Bondi events, the nation's firearm regulations were not entirely useless. It has been suggested the individuals involved possessed with manually-operated long guns and at least one straight-pull shotgun. These firearms can only fire a one round at a time, necessitating a manual operation to ready the next round. Although these guns are capable of being discharged quite quickly with lethal results, they remain significantly less rapid and more cumbersome than the large-magazine, semi-automatic rifles commonplace in international mass shootings. The number of deaths at Bondi would've been far higher if more advanced weapons had been accessible. Stopping a future Bondi requires national cohesion. And unfortunately, we have already seen cracks in the facade. A System Showing Weakness However, the terrible toll of the attack demonstrates that existing firearm regulations are inadequate. Crafted in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, years have worn away their effectiveness. Concerningly, there are currently a greater number of guns in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur massacre, with some citizens in urban areas owning collections of hundreds of weapons. The nation has grown complacent and it has cost us terribly. The Path Forward: Proposed Reforms Since the Bondi attack, there have been multiple announcements regarding new gun laws. New South Wales in particular will shortly enact a suite of measures to mitigate the collective risk posed by firearms. The federal government has proposed a fresh gun buyback, and there is potential for a national firearms registry, notwithstanding the complexities of coordinating state and federal jurisdictions. These measures are feasible provided that the nation acts in unison. As stated, regarding gun control, the country is dependent on its weakest link. This is the reality of the Australian federation – laws in one state are easily circumvented if they can be avoided with a short drive across a state line. Addressing Common Arguments There is the inevitable response that "guns don't kill people, individuals are". This is true in the same sense that aircraft do not fly passengers, aviators do. Certainly, aircraft require operators, but it would be quite challenging for a pilot to transport 500 people overseas without the aircraft. The mass slaughter witnessed at Bondi would be all but impossible without firearms, and would have been far less damaging if the alleged terrorists had been denied access to the firearms they used. Weighing Need 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 complete removal of firearms from the country is not feasible, as in some cases they are essential tools. What we can do – what we must do – is to guarantee that firearm legislation are updated to accurately reflect the society we live in today. Australia's legislation have long been the admiration of the world, but time and distance has taken a toll and the nation is less secure as it previously was. It is vital to take the lessons of Bondi to heart, and make certain that coming Australians are equally safe as previous generations have been. A friend observed after the Bondi attack, "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 final tragedy the nation experiences.