Gun laws in New Zealand.

According to the Sydney (New Zealand) Morning Herald, "Owning or using a firearm in New Zealand does require a licence. Applicants must be over 16 and pass a background check by New Zealand Police to check whether they are a "fit and proper person".A history of violence, relationships with criminals, a repeated involvement with drugs, or irresponsible consumption of alcohol are some of the reasons why someone might be denied a licence.  Carrying a gun is only permitted for those with a "lawful, proper, and sufficient purpose", such as hunting, pest control or sports shooting. Self-defence is not considered a reason to have a gun."

Unfortunately, a criminal Muslim hater seems to have leveraged that stupid mentality to shoot up a couple of mosques, sending between 40 and 50 people to their graves.  Personally, the fact that those who died this time were predominately Muslim has no bearing on the depravity of the crime.  People are people and everyone born deserves to live a natural life whose path is decided by their own work, dedication, ideals and accomplishments.  When Jews got shot up in Philly recently I had the same reaction.  Only someone with political goals tries to categorize one heinous, tragic loss of life as being more important than another.  Of course, that includes US military shooting up weddings and funeral processions in the middle east in order to get one or two "high value" targets.

What's at question here is not who got shot, but why so many?  And the answer to me is simple: because self defense is not considered by the government to be sufficient reason to have a gun.  IMO, there is no better reason.  The NZ government's priorities are so far out of wack on this matter that it borders on insanity.  Wanting to shoot guns for sport and wanting to use a gun for hunting are considered good reasons, but self D is not??  WTF??

Of course, it's clear to me that it's like this because the cops want to enforce their monopoly on the people's personal security and safety.  In that way there is no argument that the cops deserve that next pay raise and that next benefits increase.  What a racket.  But this is what happens when big government is allowed to take over.  It says it is looking out for interest of the flock, but, like a gay pedo Catholic priest, it is really just looking out for its own interests.  There really is no difference in the mechanics between big government and big church.  Absolute power corrupts, absolutely.  Guns in the hands of individual spread the power around and put self determination back in the hands of the individual.

Of course, now there will be another round of people saying guns are evil, let's get rid of guns, etc.  And it may well be that guns are evil.  But it is also true that the genii is out of the bottle; it cannot be put back.  If guns are taken from the individual then only criminal government and criminal civilians will have them.  Almost without any deviation, history shows that disarmament of the people eventually leads to their enslavement.  Listen to Austrian WW2 survivor of Hitler on this subject.  Those who cannot learn from the lessons of history are bound to repeat them.