New Zealanders buying up guns as new laws proposed

[davidc4430]

New Zealanders buying up guns as new laws proposed after Christchurch mosque shootings

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-18/christchurch-mosque-shootings-new-zealanders-buy-up-on-guns/1...

its an old argument, guns dont kill people, its people pulling the trigger. we dont need to reduce the guns just make getting one harder.

which is fine, except someone who today is mentally fine to own a gun can snap at any time and become a person with a grudge who wants to hurt someone else. you cant test for this, how do you see into the future?

personally anyone who doesnt need to have a gun shouldnt have a gun.

if you have the desire to shoot things you have failed the test.

farmers shoot things because the have no choice (i dont condone even farmers going out for a bit of fun shooting)

registered hunters use guns as they have to. and they should be tested for mental issues.

its the weekend worriors i fear, the men and women who want to jump in the landcruiser and head 'bush' to kill anything that moves.

[not_for_sale2025]

Guns are incredibly dangerous and potentially lethal in the wrong hands.

I fully supported the laws introduced in Australia after the Port Arthur massacre.

However, I have had children since then and sometimes wonder what I would do

if an armed madman burst through my front door. How could I stop the person if

it looked like he could seriously harm or kill my family?

This is the one situation that bothers me, and makes me feel helpless should such

a horror occur.

[davidc4430]

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@not_for_sale2025 wrote:

Guns are incredibly dangerous and potentially lethal in the wrong hands.

I fully supported the laws introduced in Australia after the Port Arthur massacre.

However, I have had children since then and sometimes wonder what I would do

if an armed madman burst through my front door. How could I stop the person if

it looked like he could seriously harm or kill my family?

This is the one situation that bothers me, and makes me feel helpless should such

a horror occur.

---

unless you had the weapon in your hand or very close by, loaded and ready to shoot plus were not startled by the sudden smashing of the door and frozen with the 'whats going on' face.

i doubt having a weapon would help you.

your not allowed to have a loaded weapon in your home, the gun and bullets have to be stored seperatly in locked cupboards.

but of course having an armed intruder breaking into your house is prolly not going to ever happen.

as for this crazy person in new zealand, up until 2 days ago he was thought to be a just a regular nice guy.

the people in grafton who knew him all say he was an ok guy.

no one ive heard as yet has come forward saying 'oh that guy was a looney tune with a real problem with anger managment disorder, doesnt surprise me he went off the deep end'

thats why i say, if ya dont need a gun you shouldnt be allowed to own one.

[davidc4430]

up until today i have been impressed with the NZ PM with her reaction to this terrible crime.

but today she said 'when Australia faced the terrible shootings at port arthur is took 12 days to put in place the new laws, we have done it in 72 hours.

what, its a competition?

btw, she hasnt put anything in writing yet, they still have to get all their govt people together and nut out exactly what they are going to do and sign off on it. make it law.

none of thats happened yet. all she has is a general agreement they are going to do 'something'

and to throw salt on the wound she says 'oh and we must not forget, this guy, he wasnt a newzealander, he was an australian.'

like that makes it better?

[viewmont1071]

I'm "switzerland" in the gun debate....

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/switzerland-gun-laws-rates-of-gun-deaths-2018-2?r=US&IR=T

The country has about 2 million privately owned guns in a nation of 8.3 million people. In 2016, the country had 47 attempted homicides with firearms. The country’s overall murder rate is near zero.

Zurich’s Knabenschiessen is a traditional annual festival that dates back to the 1600s.

Though the word roughly translates to “boys shooting” and the competition used to be only boys, teenage girls have been allowed in since 1991.

Kids in the country flock to the competition every September to compete in target shooting using Swiss army service rifles.

They’re proud to show off how well they can shoot.

Accuracy is prized above all else, and a Schutzenkonig – a king or queen of marksmen – is crowned.

Unlike the US, Switzerland has  mandatory military service fro males

All men between the ages of 18 and 34 deemed “fit for service” are given a pistol or a rifle and trained.

After they have finished their service, the men can typically buy and keep their military weapons but they have to get a permit for them.

In recent years, the Swiss government has voted to reduce the size of the country’s armed forces.

In 2007, the small arms survey found that Switzerland had the third-highest ratio of civilian firearms per 100 residents (46), outdone

by only the US (89) and Yemen (55).

Swiss authorities decide on a local level whether to give people gun permits.

They also keep a log of everyone who owns a gun in their region, known as a canton, though hunting rifles and some semiautomatic long arms are exempt from the permit requirement.

But cantonal police don’t take their duty dolling out gun licenses lightly.

They might consult a psychiatrist or talk with authorities in other cantons where a prospective gun buyer has lived before to vet the person.

Some lawmakers in US states including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island are considering a similar model.

[springyzone]

I think a lot of people interpret Australia's laws as meaning 'no guns'. I've known Americans who have said that to me.

It's not about 'banning guns' as such, I think it is about monitoring who has guns and under what conditions, same as we would a driving licence or anything else that gives people responsibilities.

If you're looking for a foolproof system where no one could possibly fall through the cracks when it comes to testing or obtain a weapon illegally, you're never going to find it, not on this earth.

All that can be done is to have checks & balances in place and to make some types of weapons extremely difficult for the unqualified to get hold of.

But that doesn't mean we'll all be safe. An ex student at a school I worked at, some years later, held up a man at gunpoint. I have another acquaintance who had a gun held to her head as she was driving through the city during the middle of the day.

I was told by a member of the police force that it is not all that unusual. The city carjacking never got so much as a passing mention in any paper, for instance.

The other side of this coin is consequences. If you have laws, there need to be some sort of consequences for breaking them. The ex student I mentioned faced charges for about 200 crimes by the time he was 20, yet some people were petitioning for him not to be deported. The crimes included house invasions plus gun crimes. Unless people do face consequences for crimes, others won't take the laws too seriously.

[tasfleur]

I think you have hit the nail right on the head there springyzone, that's exactly how it happens and how it should be.

There are so many violent people who hide it well and would do anything to get what they want, that it can be nearly impossible to be safe all the time.

[ambercat16]

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@davidc4430 wrote:

up until today i have been impressed with the NZ PM with her reaction to this terrible crime.

but today she said 'when Australia faced the terrible shootings at port arthur is took 12 days to put in place the new laws, we have done it in 72 hours.

what, its a competition?

and to throw salt on the wound she says 'oh and we must not forget, this guy, he wasnt a newzealander, he was an australian.'

like that makes it better?

---

David, can you please tell me where you saw or heard these two comments by the NZ Prime Minister?  I'm in NZ at the moment and as you can imagine there is non stop reporting of the Christchurch events and things that have been seen and done subsequently and I haven't seen anything like the comments you mention.

[davidc4430]

ABC radio, not completely infalable but usually report the truth.i have actually heard her saying about how the man was australian not a new zealander. i have not heard her saying we took 12 days to do what she has supposedly done in 72 hours.

i havent attempted to seach it out.

she did a press conference to anounce her govt was going to change the laws around guns, but admitted until her govt gets it through parliment its just a 'agreement in principle'

as often happens with these things, the longer it takes the harder it becomes. people who at the time of the incident are all fired up in wanting to do something. but given a cooling off period, phone calls are made, threats are made, and suddenly the people who were all yelling 'get them guns outta here' are not so enthusiastic.

i hope they can do something but i know there will be a strong 'your not taking my guns' lobby

[myoclon1cjerk]

PM Ardern did make that first comment, at a press conference, about Australia's response time vs theirs in regards to gun law changes. I didn't take it as an insult to Australia,merely a statement to convey a message that the NZ government was acting quicky.