Free Republic

Some rushed to their trusted online dealers and stores to stock up on semiautomatic assault-style rifles. Others unlocked their secure cabinets, picked up their firearms and turned them in to police stations, no questions asked. The estimated quarter of a million gun owners across this largely quiet, peaceful South Pacific country, many of them dedicated hunters, are bracing for what are likely to be significant changes to New Zealand’s firearm laws. Leaders have hinted that the changes will impact the proliferation and availability of semiautomatic weapons in particular. The changes, agreed to in principle by the country’s coalition government Monday...

Full Title: NEW ZEALAND GUN OWNERS ARE VOLUNTARILY HANDING OVER SEMIAUTOMATIC RIFLES TO POLICE: 'WE DON'T NEED THESE IN OUR COUNTRY'Since Friday's deadly attack at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, gun owners have been turning up at local police stations seeking to have their own semiautomatic rifles—the weapon believed to have been used in the shootings—destroyed. In the days since the attacks, which saw 50 people killed and dozens more injured, a number of gun owners in New Zealand have gone on social media to encourage others to follow in their footsteps. They want them to hand over their...

Kentucky recently became the 16th state to amend its laws to get rid of onerous restrictions on healthy, law-abiding adults bearing arms, conforming its concealed weapons statutes to the Constitution and irritating liberals who prefer that we citizens remain helpless sheep. Some of us channel the Founders and believe it is every eligible citizen’s duty to own the kind of guns liberals label “assault weapons” in order to be able to personally protect themselves, their families, their communities and their Constitution; others just want the option of carrying a .38 at a house of worship or elsewhere in public where...

Attorney General David Parker had told a crowd at a vigil Saturday that a key part of the government's response was to ban semi-automatic weapons, a step further than Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had called for in the wake of the attacks. But Parker told Radio New Zealand on Saturday that the government has yet to make any decision on what changes to gun ownership policies, if any, would look like. "We need to ban some semi-automatics, perhaps all of them. Those decisions have yet to be taken, but the prime minister has signaled that we are going to look...

The organizers of New Zealand’s largest gun show say they have canceled the event to show respect for victims of the Christchurch massacre and because of “elevated security risks.” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern vowed to tighten gun laws after the attack. She says banning private ownership of semi-automatic rifles, which were used to devastating effect in the attack Friday on two Christchurch mosques, is an option. The Kumeu Militaria Show, near Auckland, has been held for about five years. …

“A public debate on the merits of a measure can reveal its flaws,” the Bismarck Tribune calmly and reasonably editorialized recently, adding, “and then we have to trust voters to do the right thing.”“Why are some legislators so afraid to allow North Dakota voters to decide what is in their constitution?” asked an earlier editorial in the Fargo Forum. Legislation to make citizen petitions far more difficult abounds in North Dakota, this being the winter of legislators’ discontent, because the mighty solons did not like an ethics measure that voters nevertheless passed in a close contest last fall. Personally, I would have...

A real life open carry situation gone wrong and some valuable advice to those that do.

On  8 March, 2019, joint hearings were being held on SB1000, a bill that would effectively abolish the appeals process to the Maryland Handgun Permit Review Board (HPRB). The sponsors of SB1000 are all Democrats. A former member of the HPRB wished to testify about claimed inaccuracies about the Board that was printed in a Baltimore Sun editorial. The joint committee only allowed one minute for comments. It was not enough for Shari Judah to finish her comments. She refused to give up the microphone when asked to do so. From mdshooters.com: Today in the joint hearings in Annapolis, former...

What Good Can A Handgun Do Against An Army?BY Herschel Smith 2 days, 9 hours ago Recall when I said this? Do you suppose this would look like great land armies getting into formation at the edges of great fields of battle and marching towards each other?  What do you think such a messy civil war in America would look like?  Bubba would be wearing a Ghillie suit, shooting a bolt action rifle, or a modern sporting rifle, and after the shot you will never hear from him again – until the next one.  And you’ll never catch him.  Police...

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed that her country's gun laws will change in the wake of Friday's terror attack. "I've already indicated there will be changes to our gun laws. This will be discussed in cabinet tomorrow," said Arden during a press conference in Wellington, Sunday. Until Friday, the biggest massacre in New Zealand's history occurred 30 years ago, when a man named David Gray went on a shooting rampage, killing 13 people. Following that attack, the nation's gun laws -- which were first passed in 1983 -- came under scrutiny. The ensuing debate led to a...

A new bill introduced in Pennsylvania would establish a gun registry within the state.

Arkansas state Senator Stephanie Flowers captivated the international news media with her fiery attack on “Stand Your Ground” legislation, which guarantees the right to defend oneself without retreating as far as possible. Author Joyce Carol Oates took inspiration from Flowers’ comments, lauding her as “astonishing/courageous.” Actress Sarah Silverman hailed her as a “hero,” saying that her “face should be on money.”

Teen eggs a Australian senator during press conference

The New Zealand shooter’s manifesto, which will not be linked to here, is a mix of avowed white supremacist sentiment and suggested tactics to fellow extremists — including his declared intention to exploit racial, cultural, and political divisions in the U.S. According to his manifesto, the shooter — who massacred civilians at two mosques in New Zealand’s city of Christchurch — appears to subscribe to a number of ideologies. The document is riddled with white nationalist talking points, and the shooter describes himself as a “fascist.” He also castigates Muslims as “the most despised group of invaders in the west.”...

How They Use Tragedy to Crack Down on Gun Rights & Free Speech5 minute video, Colion Noir on Tucker Carlson's show.

Accused New Zealand mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant, one of four suspects in custody in connection to the attack, is a personal trainer from Australia who visited North Korea, where he was photographed in a tour group visiting the Samjiyon Grand Monument. Tarrant, 28, is the son of parents who divorced when he was young. His father, who died in 2010 at age 49, was a garbage man who became a competitive triathlete who represented Australia. He described himself as an "ordinary white man who decided to take a stand," worked at the Big River Gym in New Zealand from 2009...

The man allegedly responsible for the mass shooting at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, wrote in his manifesto that the modern political system he most admired was that of communist China. In a detailed question and answer style manifesto written before the attack that killed 49 people and left dozens of others injured, alleged perpetrator Brenton Tarrant outlined his belief that the white race would eventually disappear as a result of mass immigration from primarily Islamic nations. While rejecting certain labels including Neo-Nazism, xenophobia, and even Islamaphobia, he does describe himself an ethno-nationalist, a racist, and a fascist, while expressing...

In July 2018, Christian was among the 28 students and four chaperones who traveled from Parkland, Florida, to the University of Canterbury in Christchurch — a visit that was intended to help the students cope with the aftermath of the mass shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

New Zealand’s government is responding to the Christchurch attacks by pledging to ban all semiautomatic rifles. The Newstalk ZB reports that Attorney General David Parker announced the pending ban on semiautomatic rifles during a vigil in Auckland. He couched the announcement in comments about “a dimming of enlightenment” in various places around the world. The Guardian reports that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also plans to “focus on the ease with which legal weapons can be modified to become military-style assault rifles, which are more strictly controlled.”

Friday on CNN’s “New Day,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said President Donald Trump’s rhetoric was “a factor” in the mass shooting at two New Zealand mosques that left 49 dead. Partial transcript as follows: BLUMENTHAL: A heartbreaking day, and of course our prayers go out to the people of New Zealand, particularly the loved ones and survivors and victims. But words do have consequences and we know that at the very pinnacle of power in our own country people are talking about good people on both sides. CAMEROTA: You mean the president talking about it. I mean I know it’s...