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Following the tragedy of the awful incident at Bondi, Australia is confronting several critical reckonings. We are seeing a long-overdue national focus on anti-Jewish sentiment, an persistent worry about public safety, and questions about the way such an event could happen. But, as viewed of a health professional and Australian Jew, the paramount discussion we are now having revolves around firearms.

Ten Years of Warnings and a Proven Response

Health specialists have been sounding alarms about guns for a minimum of a decade. In the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy, Australians united and enacted a suite of measures to reduce gun violence nationwide. The strategy succeeded. Before 1996, the nation witnessed approximately one mass shooting per year. Over the following years, there have been vanishingly few major events, with none reaching the death toll of the shootings in the 1980s and 1990s.

This Recent Attack and the Function of Current Laws

Amidst the Bondi events, the nation's firearm regulations were not entirely useless. Reports indicate the individuals involved possessed with manually-operated long guns and a straight-pull shotgun. These weapons are limited to firing a single bullet at a time, requiring a physical action to chamber the next round. Although these guns can be fired rapidly with lethal results, they remain far slower and more cumbersome than the high-capacity, self-loading rifles commonplace in overseas attacks. The casualty count 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 Under Strain

However, the horrific toll of the attack demonstrates that current firearm regulations are failing. Designed in the late 1990s with the noblest aims, decades have worn away their efficacy. Alarmingly, there are currently more firearms in Australia than before the Port Arthur shooting, with some individuals in urban areas reportedly holding arsenals of hundreds of weapons.

The nation has grown complacent and it has exacted a terrible price.

The Path Forward: Proposed Changes

In the time after the Bondi tragedy, there have been numerous announcements regarding strengthened gun laws. New South Wales specifically will soon introduce a package of reforms to reduce the public danger posed by firearms. The federal government has announced a fresh gun buyback, and there is potential for a countrywide gun database, despite the complexities of coordinating state and federal jurisdictions.

All of this are feasible provided that the nation works together. As noted, when it comes to gun control, the country is only as strong as its least stringent jurisdiction. This is the very nature of the Australian system – laws in one state are easily circumvented if they can be avoided with a short drive across a border.

Countering Frequent Objections

There is the predictable argument that "firearms are not the killers, people kill people". This is accurate in the identical way that planes don't transport people, pilots do. Yes, aircraft require operators, but it would be quite challenging for a captain to transport 500 people internationally without the aircraft. The horrific violence seen at Bondi would be extremely difficult without firearms, and would have been far less damaging if the accused individuals had been denied access to the firearms they possessed.

Balancing Need and Safety

It is acknowledged 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 guns from the country is not feasible, as in certain contexts they are essential tools.

What we can do – the imperative action – is to ensure that firearm legislation are modernized to better match the world we live in today. Australia's legislation have long been the admiration of the world, but the passage of years has done its work and the nation is less secure as it previously was. It is critical to take the lessons of Bondi seriously, and make certain that future generations are as protected as past generations have been.

As one friend observed after the Bondi events, "such tragedies just don't happen here". This is true, but solely due to the fact that the country has made concerted efforts to keep itself safe. As nightmarish as the attack was, there is hope that it can serve as the last one the nation experiences.