A rant on the NZ gun safety fallacy
In the wake of the worst mass shooting in American history, and after seeing New Zealand's gun safety laws being described here and there in the media as "world-leading" relative to the US, I thought it would be interesting to see what I could potentially go and buy with my normal A-Category license. That is, no background checks, no lay-away period, just pay and take away. Here's a sample of what's available just down the road at Gun City:
Also, here's a recent story out of South Auckland highlighting the tools available to some of those in the local meth trade.
And this one.
And this one.
Obviously not all mass shooters opt for assault rifles and ridiculous Terminator-esque pistol-grip shotguns (although a lot do - see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). For example, my gun....
...has been used in more than a few mass shootings (for example, this one). But I feel like it's easier to make a case for shooting clays with a stock-standard Remington 870 than trying to do the same with a sliding-stock, pistol-grip Mossberg 590 Tactical Package.
We're nothing on the batshit craziness of the US:
...but still. I'd love to know how people justify owning some of what's on offer here, especially when none of our wildlife can kill us.