Bondi was my safe haven – now it will never be the same

When I woke up yesterday to learn there'd been yet another mass shooting in the US at Brown University with two dead, I was dismayed at my own lack of surprise - it could never happen here in Australia, I thought.

- GARY NUNN

It was a reassuring thought, amid another saddening tragedy. Unlike the troubled, violent US, Australia boasts some of the world's strictest gun laws. It has long been a point of pride for the country, and a pull factor as to why I stay here, after moving from the UK 14 years ago. I never take the liberating safety for granted.

I jumped on my bike and, at the last minute, decided to cycle to a different beach for a change - Coogee - instead of Bondi, to enjoy temperatures in the 30s. I always go to Bondi, a few kilometres away. This would make a nice change, I thought.

Before I'd go to bed, Australia would experience its second deadliest mass shooting incident in modern history - at Sydney's Bondi beach. Currently, 12 people, including one shooter, are dead and at least 29 injured. Explosive devices have been found in a car linked to the gunman. The last mass shooting - the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania in 1996 - was the catalyst to reform the nation's gun laws.

As a Brit living in Australia, I sometimes think of the July 7 Tube bombings and Manchester Ariana Grande concert attack and feel somewhat protected from scary incidents of violence and terrorism here. They still happen - but, it feels, less frequently and on a smaller scale.