Professor Alexander Gillespie: Australia has learned valuable lessons from its own shooting tragedies - 6 ideas NZ can borrow

Nearly 30 years before the Christchurch terror attacks of March 15 2019, New Zealand had to grapple with the horrors of another mass shooting. The Aramoana massacre on November 13 1990 left 13 people dead and a nation reeling.

But the firearms law changes made in the aftermath were inadequate, and the failure to tighten regulations arguably left the door open for the Christchurch atrocity – committed by a licensed firearms owner.

Alexander Gillespie: What can the US teach NZ about gun control? More than you might expect

The current inquest into the worshippers killed in the Christchurch mosque attacks has been examining gun laws at the time of the 2019 atrocities, and how lax controls helped the terrorist acquire his weapons.

Inevitably, it has also put the spotlight on the coalition government’s proposed changes to the Arms Act, and how changes to licence vetting procedures and regulation might affect public safety.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 23/8/24

No, NZ will not be moved, but the PM and his deputy are headed for Tonga (with a schedule that does not mention Seymour)

So who and/or what will be left behind?

That’s what we wondered, on learning from the government’s official website: New Zealand heads to Tonga to talk Pacific.

The country is not on the move, of course. But Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Tonga next week to meet with Pacific leaders on priority regional issues.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 1/3/24

Govt is gunning for gangs – but McKee reckons some Firearms Prohibition Orders could be lifted much earlier than 10 years

Having sorted out the war criminals and terrorists with a series of foreign affairs announcements yesterday, the government today confirmed its plans to allow police to search gang members, their vehicles and homes at any time using court-authorised firearms prohibition orders (FPOs).

Bob Jones: Madness

In the USA in 2021 over 45,000 citizens were killed by gunshots, including over 1,500 children.

In total there were 692 mass shootings in supermarkets and the like (defined as 4 or more victims).

Yet here’s the madness. Current polling shows only a tiny majority of Americans favour gun restrictions, albeit the trend is rising from 20% in favour three decades back. Ironically, but perhaps understandably, every fresh mass shooting, on average one every 4 days, sees a surge in gun sales with people viewing them as essential protection.

Stephen Franks: Why practical Police will not use a gun register

I’m often asked why licensed firearms owners like me are so worried about the government’s phase 2 gun law changes, even if we supported the original announcement to ban semi-automatics.

The registry is just one part of abandoning our world-envied mutual trust basis of cooperation between police and citizen. Police HQ want the register despite having starved and mis-managed the arms registry we’ve had for 30 years for pistols and MSSAs. They let it become notoriously unreliable despite having all the powers they needed to ensure it functioned pretty much as the registry they now want to make universal.

But I don’t blame them for that dereliction. The existing registry was just not useful enough to justify much expense. Registry uselessness was most dramatically shown in Canada’s abandonment of their registry after spending more than C$1bn on it.

Barend Vlaardingerbroek: When guns become part of popular culture

Mass shootings are becoming alarmingly common news fare. The USA leads the way in terms of sheer numbers but they have been on the increase elsewhere as well.

There are complicating factors when looking at this phenomenon. For one thing, a mass shooting is only one form of mass killing. Bombs, knives, axes and motor vehicles outshine guns as the preferred means of bumping off people in various countries, and comparisons based purely on incidents of mass shootings may be misleading.

Karl du Fresne: Otago's academics know what's best for us, so let's put them in charge

The thought often occurs to me that New Zealand could save itself a whole lot of money and political argy-bargy by simply handing over the governance of the country to the academics of Otago University. 

They know exactly what needs to be done. They never tire of telling us. Barely a week passes without one of their number pointing how simple it would be, using regulatory tools, to create a Utopia here in our remote corner of the Pacific.

If only we listened to their advice, New Zealand would be a fairer, safer, healthier and more equal society. (Not freer, though, because freedom can get in the way of Utopian visions and must be strictly controlled by people who know what’s best for us.)

Clive Bibby: A disturbing aspect of a disturbing bunch of statistics

I wrote some time ago criticising the reaction of the Government to the Christchurch massacre by rushing to introduce legislation that would render automatic guns illegal and also allow for a "buy back" scheme aimed at removing those in existence from the public arena.

In doing so l voiced an opinion that their focusing on the elimination of the right to own or use automatic weaponry was largely a waste of time and money if the objective was to prevent a reoccurrence of that tragedy or even one of less magnitude.

NZCPR Weekly: The Consequences of a Tragedy

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we examine the consequences of the Christchurch shooting – including a growing mass hysteria over security largely created by Government scaremongering to justify its crackdown on gun owners, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Stephen Franks shares his concerns over the Government’s gun law changes, and our poll asks whether you believe the Crusaders should change their name, branding or imagery as a result of the tragedy.

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Stephen Franks: NZ’s right to bear arms? Firearms as a Treaty taonga.

When the Treaty was signed, pu and tupara (muskets and double barreled shotguns) were among the most valuable of all taonga under Article 2 (if it really does go beyond the real property interests listed as the New Zealand courts say). 

Article 2 assured the chiefs and all the ordinary people of New Zealand that they would have undisturbed exclusive use and possession of their taonga.

So if relations between Police and (rural) Maori break down, it is inevitable that some Maori will assert a Treaty right to be free from confiscation and possibly even licensing for firearms. Urban judges from leafy suburbs will look for some sophistry to reject that claim both in law, and morally. But they should not underestimate the power of a strong view that authority is wrong allied to a wide belief in historical right. We have seen that repeatedly. Myth becomes political reality when enough people believe the myth.

NZCPR Weekly: A Totalitarian State

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we reflect on the danger of the overly restrictive law changes being introduced by the Government to penalise New Zealanders for the atrocity caused by a visiting Australian, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Karl du Fresne outlines how the Christchurch tragedy is being exploited to further ideological agendas, and our poll asks whether you believe New Zealand needs stronger laws to outlaw ‘hate’..

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NZCPR Weekly: The Politicisation of a Tragedy

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we look into how the Christchurch tragedy is being politicised by activists and the Government, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Karl du Fresne explains how a moral panic is being created to justify restrictive law changes, and our poll asks whether you believe the Chief Censor was correct in banning the alleged killer’s ‘manifesto’ explaining why he carried out the attacks.

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COMMENTS:

Comment on Editorial “An Agenda Change”:

Muriel Newman should be congratulated for her article on the political exploitation of the tragic events in Christchurch; and just how the socialists/Greens have taken advantage of this situation to pillory the majority of us as “White Supremacists” and therefore supporters of terrorism.

The fact that is, that under both Labour and National administrations this country has for some considerable time been financing one the most violent and bloody Terrorist Regime in Gaza. Namely Hamas, this “aid” is sent under the guise that it will help the poor and afflicted occupants of that State.

Systematically since the Labour/Green coalition came into power, it has engendered a policy of hatred against Israel. This is a campaign to promote the Jewish state as the villain of the Middle East, which will, endear our Prime Minister even further in the United Nation; and as some have suggested, a Nobel Prize for Peace!

This came to a ahead when our delegation voted against Israel in the UN which in fact was a very obvious ploy to support Islam.

It is evident that anti-Semitism is a strategic integral part of both their socialistic policy, similar in context to the British Labour Party under its present leadership!

The statement by our Prime Minister that any such repeat of this Christchurch massacre must never happen again is a misguided attempt to assure the general populace. Experience of lone wolf terrorist attacks overseas has shown this to be impossible.

Now we see the aftermath of Christchurch turning into a pathway for rabid Iwi aspirations, a hatred of the “white colonialists” all with the purpose of weakening our democracy. It is a prelude to a situation that will occur should Dame Susan Devoy’s call for a “Hate Speech Law” be passed in this country.

The question of such a law being implemented raises issues on our right to Freedom of Speech, the written word, and is a replica of an Orwellian 1984.

In the event of such a threat turning into a reality, it would be grounds for a total governmental control of our media. The very existence of such independent outlets as the Spectator, Sky News Australia, Facebook and the NZCPR would be curtailed, even threatened; and be subjected in the final analysis to left wing censorship.

...“Just after the Christchurch massacre Sky News NZ withdrew SkyNews Australia news channel 85, and substituted a sports edition. I contacted Sky News NZ and was informed that this was in sympathy with what had happened! Later I was also contacted by an officer from that organisation, who informed me that this decision was taken by the Directors of SKYNZ.”...

This raises the legal question of censorship especially when all this went viral beyond our shores. In a Western Democracy the people have a right to know the full details of such an attack. It should not be forbidden on the flimsy pretext that it would be prejudicial to any trial.

The question arises is why we, the general public, cannot be trusted to view this video/manifesto; when outside these shores non New Zealanders have had access to both? If the video presentation is so horrific it is no different to similar “entertainment shows” now visible on our Television.

Are we then so naive, so innocent to judge for ourselves on the full horror of this attack? Or is there a more sinister motive behind the Government’s heavy handed penalties of even possessing this video and manifesto?

What next? Are we to have a banning and burning of books as in Fascist and Communist countries? Such an act would be more in common and reminiscent of the World’s Totalitarian States!

Brian

NZCPR Weekly: United We Stand

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we stand by the bereaved and the people of Christchurch as we look into the implications of the tragedy for New Zealand going forward, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Barry Soper questions the actions of our intelligence agencies, and our poll asks whether you agree that the Prime Minister’s review into the Christchurch shooting should take the form of a Royal Commission of Inquiry.

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Melanie Phillips: The American right to bear arms

Having been travelling in America over the past couple of weeks, I observed at close quarters the fierce debate that erupted there over firearms in the wake of the massacre at the school in Parkland, Florida where 17 children and adults were killed and 14 others injured when they were gunned down by a mentally ill former student.

There have been too many such massacres of the innocent in American schools and other public places. This is the first time I can recall such an anguished debate: the first time the feeling that America can’t go on like this has transcended the usual suspects in the Democratic Party and on the broader political left.

Jock Anderson: New Zealand Gun Laws Among Best In The World

Freelance journalist and commentator Jock Anderson says rogue shooting is no reason to toughen gun laws.

Calls by the disarmament lobby for tougher gun laws ignore the reality that New Zealand gun 
laws are widely regarded as among the best in 
the world.

Richard Epstein: Will Banning Guns Prevent Another Aurora?

Once more, America gropes for a magic bullet.

The macabre tragedy in Aurora, Colorado, which left at least 12 people dead and 58 seriously wounded, is a grim reminder of the helpless position in which innocent people can find themselves at the hands of a maniac. No fictional film can top the tale of James Holmes, a former graduate student in neuroscience, who was decked out in “ballistic” regalia as he entered the Century 16 movie theater shortly after midnight during a showing of “The Dark Knight Rises.” Armed with assault weapons and tear or smoke gas bombs, he first immobilized and then shot his victims without reason or remorse. To top matters off, he then booby-trapped his apartment in an apparent effort to kill or maim the police officers that were likely to search it.