Pauline Hanson’s One Australia party is trying to defend claims that it should funding to oppose gun restrictions from the NRA and the Koch Brothers by stating that its chief of staff was drunk.
Passing stringent gun controls is far from a knee-jerk reaction to the Christchurch massacre – our politicians of all stripes have procrastinated over this ever since the 1990 Aramoana massacre. We already have the 13 recommendations of the 2017 Law & Order committee that were rejected. Let us at the very least now accept those.
I’ve used and worked with weapons for large chunks of my life. They’re not there for dickheads. There aren’t any reasons to keep operational semi-automatic weapons in civilian life. Just outlaw them. The conviction for unlawful possession of them requires mandatory imprisonment.
Christchurch police have been ordered to carry guns until a wanted man is arrested. Is this a dry run for the permanent arming of our cops?
In a guest post, Labour’s Ōhāriu candidate Greg O’Connor responds to some of the topics of comments in the post “Greg O’Connor selected for Ōhāriu” and elsewhere on the blogs.
5 law enforcement officers shot dead in Dallas. The city’s worst day in 5 decades.
Will the Republicans have the courage of their convictions and allow open carry at their approaching Convention?
In the wake of the shooting of four police officers in Kawerau, it’s time NZ had a cold, hard look at our gun culture. We need an inquiry that addresses both legal and illegal gun ownership. But there’s a related matter that also needs looking at …
Heartfelt condolences to the family and friends, and the many victims of America’s latest shooting incident. It’s the seventh in 2012, part of a rapidly increasing trend. I don’t think America will ever seriously confront the gun lobby and take steps to end this madness. That’s America’s real gun tragedy.
Regular as clockwork the suggestion that police should be armed keeps coming back.
Michael Laws has been calling for listeners to shoot journalists. He’s a disturbed individual who should never be on the air again. Wouldn’t be nice to take the trash out of political commentary?
Rightwing violence fetishists are exploiting the Norwegian terror attacks to call for looser gun laws. ‘If only one of those teenagers had a handgun to take on the drugged up zealot with the automatic rifle’. Fact is, the ‘guns save lives’ myth was destroyed by the Tuscon shooting earlier this year. The armed bystander there nearly caused more innocent deaths.
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords survived the assassination attempt but the political fall-out has just begun. In the US’s strange post-modern politics, Obama’s speech is the most popular thing he’s done, while Sarah Palin screwed up badly. Meanwhile, guns like the one used are flying off the shelves and Arizona is relaxing gun laws further.
In the shadow of recent police shootings we are being presented with the idea of increased police access to firearms as a virtual fait accompli. I’m opposed to the proposal. It won’t make the police any safer, and it will put the public at risk.
