Why is it that every time we take a couple of steps forward we seem to take three back!
What has happened in Christchurch has turned so many lives upside down and it is to be hoped does not do too much damage in the way of further alienating sections of our community.
As bad as it is, the worst aspect I can foresee, the NRA must be rubbing their hands with glee at the moment. While authorities around the world are trying to limit the publics exposure to portable weapons, middle belt America will be saying....."Well there you go, this is what happens when you don't allow your citizenry to protect themselves! If the public were allowed to carry a gun someone could have shot this pr*ck before it got out of hand. The public were powerless because nobody but the police had the means to stop him”!
The rationale is weapons are the great social leveller, they take away the advantage!
We are never going to remove all weapons from the street, but for Christ sake, can’t we at least try. The consensus at the moment is, well if you can’t get rid of all illegal drugs, why try to get rid of any, why don’t we just make them open slather!
This catastrophe in Christchurch may just turn out to be the tip of the iceberg. People outside the US will start attempting to arm themselves against scenarios that should never have been allowed to happen in the first place.
The New Zealand Prime Minister is now saying tighter gun control is the most important thing on her agenda. Well that’s very comforting to the 90+ physical victims of last Friday. Why couldn’t a leaf have been taken out of former Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s book 2 decades ago!!! This Australian perpetrator performed his act in New Zealand because he couldn’t do it in Australia.
Why do we always attempt to shut the gate after the horse has bolted.
Please as a global community, let’s put pressure on all our governments to outlaw the carrying of personal weapons.
My father was a law abiding citizen…….he was an idiot, but he was a law abiding citizen. He was allowed to have whatever guns he wished. He bragged once how he went out with a .22 calibre rifle and bagged 51 rabbits with a box of 50 bullets!
That .22 calibre rifle and I had quite a history. One Christmas morning when I was about 8, all us kids were sent outside to play. I picked up that rifle that dad had left leaning against the wall by the back door and pointed it at a cousin and said…..”Put your hands up your dead” and I pulled the trigger. The bullet went straight through my cousin fortunately missed all vital organs. But my relationship with my father was never the same from that day.
Law abiding citizens are not always going to be a sanctuary, a haven of respect, where a weapon is concerned.
I would no sooner have walked up to my cousin with a knife in my hand than cut my own throat…..but I shot him with a gun.
Globally, can we please learn something from this….if you make weapons available, people die, Can we start to make a better world.
Rob
