The nation's Firearm Laws: An International Model That Needs to Persist, Especially After Bondi

In the aftermath of the horrific attack at Bondi, Australia is facing multiple pressing reckonings. There is a long-overdue national focus on anti-Jewish sentiment, an persistent concern about national security, and inquiries about the way 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 Solution

Health specialists have been sounding alarms about guns for a minimum of a decade. Following the events of the Port Arthur massacre, Australians united and enacted a suite of reforms to curb gun violence nationwide. 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 significant tragedies, with none approaching the fatalities of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Bondi Tragedy and the Function of Current Laws

Even during the Bondi events, the nation's firearm regulations were not entirely useless. It has been suggested the alleged attackers possessed with bolt-action rifles and a straight-pull shotgun. These weapons can only fire a one round at a time, necessitating a manual operation to chamber the subsequent shot. While these guns can be fired quite quickly with lethal results, they remain far slower and less efficient than the large-magazine, semi-automatic rifles commonplace in overseas mass shootings. The casualty count at Bondi could have been much greater if more advanced firearms had been available.

Preventing another Bondi demands unity across all states. Regrettably, we have already seen cracks in the facade.

Legislation Under Strain

Yet, the horrific consequences of the incident demonstrates that existing firearm regulations are inadequate. Crafted in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, decades have worn away their effectiveness. Alarmingly, there are now a greater number of guns in Australia than prior to the Port Arthur massacre, with some individuals in urban areas reportedly holding arsenals of hundreds of weapons.

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

The Path Forward: Proposed Reforms

Since the Bondi tragedy, there have been numerous declarations regarding strengthened firearm legislation. The state of NSW in particular will soon introduce a package of measures to mitigate the collective risk from firearms. The national government has proposed a new gun buyback, and there is potential for a national firearms registry, notwithstanding the complexities of coordinating state and federal jurisdictions.

All of this are only possible if the nation works together. As noted, when it comes to gun control, the country is only as strong as its weakest link. This is the very nature of the Australian federation – regulations in one state are much less meaningful if they can be bypassed with a short drive across a border.

Countering Common Arguments

There is the predictable argument that "guns don't kill people, people kill people". This is accurate in the identical way that aircraft do not fly passengers, pilots do. Certainly, planes can't fly themselves, but it would be quite challenging for a captain to transport 500 people internationally without the aircraft. The mass slaughter witnessed at Bondi would be all but impossible without guns, and would have been far less damaging if the accused individuals had not had access to the weapons they used.

Balancing Necessity and Security

There are valid reasons for some Australians to own firearms. Farm work or controlling vermin in rural areas is incredibly hard without them. A complete removal of firearms from the country is not feasible, as in some cases they are indispensable.

The achievable goal – what we must do – is to guarantee that gun laws are modernized 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 done its work and the nation is less secure as it once was. It is vital to learn from the tragedy of Bondi seriously, and make certain that future generations are equally safe 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 collectively worked to keep itself safe. However horrific as the incident was, there is hope that it can serve as the final tragedy the nation experiences.