My Daughter came into the kitchen to tell me her friends were downtown in Auckland at Britomart and that a construction worker had just run past them saying a man with a gun was shooting people.
I immediately swept all the online news media and saw nothing and was in the process of suggesting to her that maybe her friends were pranking her when it broke on Breakfast TV.
I know the area this shooting occurred in well, I was there a few days ago, most Aucklanders will know it as it’s a vital entry point to downtown Auckland. To have a mass shooting event there is utterly outside the norm for Aucklanders.
As the reverberations and shock ease, there will of course be immediate political fall out.
Before all that though, first, let us acknowledge the uncompromising courage of our Police and emergency services. We all saw them sprint into that building knowing someone was armed and shooting people.
I am the first to be critical of the NZ Police, but on this day, their professionalism and unflinching bravery was one of the few things we can be grateful for on such a poisoned morning.
Let us also pause and mourn the two who were killed and 10 injured. These were simply good honest folk going about their day of work and not one of them deserved the horror visited upon them by Matu Tangi Matua Reid.
Now let’s talk about Matu.
The media have already highlighted that he was on home detention for domestic violence charges and was wearing an ankle bracelet, this is of no surprise nor shock, many on Home Detention have the option of applying for leave to work, we do this because those on home detention still need to pay the rent, far more troubling was his access to a pump action shotgun he didn’t have a gun licence for.
We know he had already been in Turn Your Life Around Youth Development Trust programme.
Political partisans will try and seize any part of his story to whip into political frenzy for their election narrative and we should reject and resist that.
The banality of evil always tends to be far more basic than we ever appreciate.
There is nothing special about Matu, he is simply another male without the basic emotional tools to facilitate his anger beyond violence, in that regard Matu is depressingly like tens of thousands of men in NZ.
His background didn’t justify this terrible act of violence today and his actions can’t be conflated to show Labour are soft on crime.
Matu is just another heartbreaking male whose violence he could not control, there are tens of thousands like him and until we start focusing on building young men who have the emotional capacity to facilitate their anger beyond violence, he won’t be the last.
He has shamed himself.
He has shamed his family.
He has shamed us all.
Today isn’t a day for politics, it is far too sad for that, the politics will come and everyone will be screaming their sweaty truth, but at its heart this is about broken men incapable of keeping their violence to themselves.
What a sorrowful day for my beautiful city.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media
Sometimes the things I see on tv which I don’t watch much at all, just horrify me. They get into the mind and find a home in people who have too much time away from positive influences. If the home and the mind are already sadly depleted then that is a witches brew. Research has shown that the people living near criminals suffer the most crime, not the wealthy, so that the people who should be shown most concern are Matu’s neighbours and family, but of course after the dead and injured get help. But don’t forget the toxic seed bed that is present in our country. If 1984 and 1991 changes had not been so severe I am sure that we would not have these happenings.
Luckily the shooter didn’t get his hands on a military style weapon with a large magazine, or the damage could’ve been even worse. And shows the foresight and leadership of Ardern, banning the most dangerous weapons, and bringing in the gun register.
Where did this gun come from? My guess is it was burgled, and the shooter either burgled it, or illegally bought it from the person who did. You cannot legitimately trade a gun, if you don’t have a license, and any gun license holder is unlikely to trade a gun they know was burgled, because this would get flagged by the new register.
But don’t forget that the Christchurch mosque shooter, did have the proper licences and did legally obtain his guns. Even if, and it’s a big if, every licensed gun owner from now on, acts responsibly, it won’t stop burgled guns getting into the wrong hands, so at least the most dangerous weapons are not available to be burgled, apart from those in the hands of police+military+C class licences.
So both the Ardern ban on the worst weapons, and the new gun register, must be recognised as sensible, even at this time of tragedy. It’s just a fact of modern times, that for a myriad of reasons, least of all the rise in online extremism, the propensity for these types of incidents is probably increasing. And tightening gun laws was always going to be a good measured response.
But at least Hipkins and Luxon kept politics out of what happened today, but not so much David Seymour. Will Seymour rethink his position regarding liberalising firearms laws or will he be silent? Will he put the safety of society ahead of votes? Can he be sensible? He may have answered this, when interviewed on the news today, where he sounded more like an apologist for the NRA.
TBH any gun owner, who cannot hit their intended target, without needing a semi automatic, and without needing a large capacity magazine, is probably lacking competence in the first place.
Trish, alas your firearms and rural knowledge is possibly lacking. The reason why pest controllers use semi autos is because often we are attempting to control entire populations of pest animals. As a tree grower I was accustomed to losing the occaisonal trees to feral goats, but for the first 25 years my old .303 was perfectly adequate to control them (incidentally this bolt action rifle was a genuine military rifle ex-WW2 specifically manufactured to kill people). When there were 3 or 4 goats my 10 shot magazine bolt action did the job. Eventually as numbers grew around the district there were 50 or 80 goats turning up to eat my trees and I got a licence for a semi auto with multiple 30rd magazines. Not because I lacked competence, but because it was an either/or situation; control the pests or lose the trees and native bush restoration.
In the first year following the 2019 law change when all the semi auto rifles went out of the district I lost 30,000 trees to feral goats and deer and ended up letting the cattle back into most of my bush reserves because the feral animals were eating all the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of native tees I’d planted so it was better to try to recover some lost money with farm animals rather than go broke. This same pattern has been repeated right across the country. People may feel the illusion of being safer without semi auto rifles (but how safe would they feel if confronted by a determined attacker holding a machete or chainsaw, or driving a truck, or making bombs… or a disgruntled young man wielding a stolen but otherwise legal shotgun?), but our native biodiversity and forestry is suffering severely from the decision. The knee-jerk gun ban has caused a lot of ecological problems because it only considered one side of the equation and Ardern specifically said she would not discuss the issue with anyone who actually used firearms as she described us all as “the gun lobby”, a very polarising term (and very inaccurate in the NZ situation).
Regarding the register, this individual did not have the legal right to own a firearm, so it’s hard to understand how a register would stop crime unless people with murderous intent were somehow induced to register their firearms before committing crime. Registered cars do not stop speeding, drunk driving and ram raids. There are some very good reasons to register cars and firearms, but preventing crime does not seem to be the most obvious one.
the thing is ben using a 303 requires a modicum of skill a semi auto just requires delusions of rambo-hood
All firearms require a reasonable level of skill to use effectively. ALL!
Well said Ben.
No, Ben Man Spayn, I suspect you may need some more training in understanding firearms control. I know a place where you would be entirely comfortable – it isnt in Aotearoa New Zealand.
You’re absurd. I see no evidence that he didn’t kill exactly as many people as he intended to, though possibly slightly less police than he intended to if he was actually targeting them rather than shooting back when they shot at him.
I do find it interesting that the police still haven’t identified the two victims. Shotguns, do not, in fact actually make people shot with them in a puff of smoke. Is whatever Philippine labour hire company brought them in just completely incapable of providing photos and IDs, or were they actually random people with no business on the site coming after the guy?
The laws that prevented him from getting a semi-auto, also prevented him from “legally” obtaining a shotgun. In other words, provided no barrier whatsoever.
Actually laws seldom stop anyone who is determined from doing anything, they are very much for punishment after the event. However, laws do establish a level of society control, and standards. EG the prohibition of certain firearms dramatically reduces their availability. A gun register (like a car register) implements a level of control and monitoring; any fit and proper person should have no problem with that.
but look at the damage he could have caused with a semi auto erik
…poor Trish – you believe what you are told.
Yes, the police were absolute heroes. A terrible place to go into to locate an angry homicidal man with a gun but they did it anyway. That is bravery personified and I am very proud of them.
I feel so very sorry for the victims of this mindlessness and their families. Those good people went to work today and for no justifiable reason they will never come home. And anyone close will never be the same.
Kia kaha!
Well done to congratulate the police .
I am so against the government but it is not their fault one person turns rogue .This person and those killed have been let down by the very society that should have been there to support the gunman and his family.
Warm dry home first class education easy access to medical and mental health and prospect of a good job not too much to ask for .Many get all of those things but some miss out and so we finish up with angry people who lash out .
My heart goes out to the 2 killed and also those injured both physically and mentally by this episode.
Society anger ratchet tightens up another notch.
Here’s a tips for everyone. Be polite and caring. If someone cuts you off in traffic or is rude, don’t respond in kind, don’t swear back or raise a finger. Don’t bully your co-workers, be a leader, a mentor or a cooperative team member. Allow people to be different. Offer help or assistance, not criticism or abuse.
There are a lot of people out there in extreme stress, in pain, suffering, unable to cope and at breaking point, ready to snap. Be a solution, not a trigger, the life you save may be your own.
While I agree with you about avoiding confrontation
I am wondering if I am correct in thinking there is some victim blaming here?
I think there are lessons for probation and the judiciary here.
And Labour who have reduced the prison population by 20% perhaps by not locking up people like this guy.
It defies belief that when he had already assaulted someone, he based up his partner, including cloaking her and later said he was going to take her family out, that he was still allowed out
Who’s victim blaming? I have no idea what triggered this particular man’s violence, I’m merely pointing out some strategies to keep people in general safe. If you read the news, you may have noticed a number of seemingly unprovoked attacks on everyday people going about their everyday business, that have resulted in serious injury or death. People have been shot, stabbed or beaten for doing nothing.
Not having to fight is the most effective self defence technique. If you can avoid or de-escalate a potentially dangerous confrontation without violence, you will generally be much better off. There are many people who will cross our paths throughout the day, some may be suffering from drug or mental health issues, economic or emotional stress or whatever, they may be armed, they may be angry, they may be suffering, there is no way of knowing, but they maybe close to breaking point.
My point is don’t be the final straw and if possible try and make everyone who crosses your path, feel better for the experience, maybe give a smile or a simple greeting, relieve the weight from their shoulders, not add to it. Make society better by your actions, don’t just add to the anger & hate.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/490054/teenage-girl-shot-in-st-lukes-road-rage-incident
This is exactly the time for politics. Another failure by Labour, the Police & our justice system. This needs to change, our society deserves better.
100%.
But I agree with Martyn in that our front line police have again shown real bravery in protecting the public from more harm. And also there are grieving families who deserve all our thoughts.
I will save further political anger for another time.
It’s the NZ Police hierarchy & mouthpieces like Cahill that will happily lie & put their own officers (and society in general) at risk to push their own political agendas, that’s who have repeatedly failed, not frontline officers.
How did the police fail ? They were there in 7 mins they bravely went in to the building not knowing if it was 1 or more shotters .They evacuated people and eventually killed the offender what more do you want .
Police head office basically wrote the failed gun laws that push guns out of lawful hands, that preceded the outbreak of gun violence.
Coster made an interesting comment today – he said it was a pump action shotgun so not banned.
Actually they did ban pump shotguns that hold more than 5 shots -long time to reload as external magazines also banned. So was this a compliant shotgun in illegal hands or a gun that was banned and we supposedly confiscated all of?
Custer should know so why make such a misleading comment?
Weasel words from the commissioner who I understand had a lot to do with writing the laws keeping us less safe, before he was commissioner.
And now for some Gun Nut Bullshit:
“….gun laws that push guns out of lawful hands, that preceded the outbreak of gun violence.” KEEPCALMCARRYONWEAPONS
By that twisted logic we should have no gun laws.
This latest tragedy indicates we need to tighten our gun laws.
Illicit gun owners, get their guns from registered gun owners in burglaries, and from bent registered gun owners after a bit of cash who don’t care where they end up.
So that they can’t be stolen..
So that dodgy gun owners, down on their luck, out for some quick cash, can’t on-sell to unregistered buyers. Best that registered gun owners don’t have semi-automatic weapons in the first place.
P.S. It is my opinion, that as well as semiautomatic weapons, all pump action shotguns, need to added to the banned weapons list.
If you are too fucken lazy to break open your shotgun to insert a cartridge, you shouldn’t have a gun licence.
Maybe we need to ban murder too? Laws are only obeyed by the law-abiding.
Pat I normally skip past your Marxist hate but I’ll reply for everyone else’s benefit :
Government was told in the buyback that not paying top dollar in the buyback would mean less guns handed back= guns on the black market.
The government chose to not pay top dollar in buy back.
Did they get them all?
Thorp in his report after Aramoana had reservations about a gun register in that unless it had 95 percent compliance it would be worse for safety because it pushes guns out of licensed hands.
The government chose to force a register through anyway.
How are those new gun laws working out?
Simple fact is it’s a major fuck up as you were told.
Here’s an idea:
Lock up the violent murderers instead of writing them cultural reports and letting them loose on the public.
Keepcalmcarryon well said.
corpses are always a platform for the gun nutz…the only regret in this case is that the pile wasn’t higher…that would fuel their bogus arguments fire…..
Because Politicians & Police always use those corpses to push their restrictive agendas which target the law-abiding while allowing criminals a free pass. ALWAYS.
Society threw out the book that tells us to love our enemies generations ago so our current situation is a natural result of letting people do their own thing. While most of society doing their own thing is relatively harmless or only affects the person involved there are others who cause harm. Love has to be a free choice so I am not about forcing anyone to accept my views although I do hope that others will accept the idea that other views around how we live have merit.
So the police would have arrived 30 seconds earlier under a National government is that your argument? Or is your argument that the police somehow gave home detention? How do you have one f’ing clue yet as to how he got hold of a firearm?Why don’t you toddle off back to 1ZB land.
Rat in a cage you should change your name to ratfucker it seems to suit you better.
I see you learned your kindness & understanding from the Labour Party manual.
Added sad partisan fuck to your ratfucking. Classy.
” Before all that though, first, let us acknowledge the uncompromising courage of our Police and emergency services. We all saw them sprint into that building knowing someone was armed and shooting people. ”
Well said Bomber.
Luxon had the gall to say this is not about politics but still agreed to speak anyway along with Hipkins but will do NOTHING to address the serious issue of so many more angry guys out there.
I really want to see the results from LINO’s billion dollar investment in mental health three years ago …possibly longer , I work with guys like this and I can tell you from the frontline there is very little to show for this massive amount of money promised and if anything with the current onslaught of economic pain many of these guys are even more marginalised but you won’t read or see anything reported on this until a tragedy like this and our need to blame someone is focused on.
Come October barring another act of dangerous violence this incident will be long forgotten.
An armed criminal on home detention with an illegal firearm murders people. This is not the time for sob stories & more cuddles. This is the time for real action that targets real criminals.
Yes and no Ratus. At a guess I’d say he was in bad place. Criminal or not, we all find ourselves in that place from time to time – not exactly the same place but somewhere dark – the difference being that most of us have the emotional tools, self regulation and buddies to prevent it all turning to custard.
He had 59 convictions – he should have been in jail. Kelvin Davis’ policies meant he wasn’t. If he had no emotional control, jail is where he should have been.
Wow. 59 convictions!
What the hell was he doing out of jail.
Soft on crime is responsible for this
..and your suggestion would be…?
My suggestions have already been given to the last four Labour Police Ministers, including Hipkins.
It’s time to wake up, because as economic stress continues to build, we may return to similar or worse conditions to that of the 1990s, where there were a number of mass killings & family annihilation events. Stay safe out there, it’s going to get worse, because no one in power will do anything to fix the underlying issues.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_in_New_Zealand
” This is exactly the time for politics. Another failure by Labour, the Police & our justice system. This needs to change, our society deserves better. ”
Rat its no longer just a political issue but an economic and structual one , LINO or NASTY NACT it makes no difference , the current political parties have no answers to the serious issues we face and every know and again they come to the surface like this act of serious violence today.
The more I see of Hipkins and Luxon and most politicians the more I realise my country is deteriorating and will soon become ungovernable.
Martyn – Very distressing for those people on the receiving end of that violence’s…I hope that they somewhat recover, I am not sure this is possible.
Rat in a cage,go to your local school,lots of Maori children there at 9 am…do your best
WTF?
“Today isn’t a day for politics..”
I respectfully disagree.
We’re in the double digits in terms of days left until the General Election – EVERY day is politics, especially today.
All I can say is. Labour and the gweens are definitely dog tucker. The next poll will mark the end of them both.
Absolutely – Martyn has flagged this for a long time. His prediction was a 501 would be the shooter, he got that wrong but the outcome will be the same. Labour are fucked now.
So which contracted provider was providing the pastoral care for the shooter whilst in employment?? MSD would know cause they would of contracted them? Money for Jam says one In Work provider says.
100% Rat. The guy strangled and bet up his partner. He according to the news threatened to take his family out. He was being helped by a trust that is to support young men to turn their lives around (last seen circa 2018).
He violently murdered two innocent men who were contributing to our society through hard work.
He was a dangerous man. Why wasn’t he in jail?
A lot of these people can’t be helped
well, certainly not by woke policies anyway.
I bet you wish we had the death penalty so he could be executed. Perhaps you wish you might have been the one to do the deed yourself.
Guess what dumb-arse: we do have the death penalty, he was executed, just like the Muslim terrorist in Lynmall. Armed agents of the state put them both down as they will any armed person who is actively attempting to (or actually is) harming people.
If this coward was behind bars where he should have been he and his two victims would still be alive today. And you fucking know it. You can thank our soft justice system for their deaths. But please, keep making apologies for him.
Um he actually shot himself. And perhaps they need to look at taking your guns off you, you seem to be an angry white man,
Barry you forget one thing , this young man was only 24, he wouldn’t have been in prison forever, he would have been released eventually. Even if he had been given 10 years in jail he would have only been 34.
Millsy I am going to ask you politely but firmly to stop second guessing me.
I don’t believe in the death penalty.
I support LBG rights.
I support people who have gender Dysphoria right to be free of harassment and get on with their lives.
Yep, there are psychopaths, violent mental problem sociopaths who really like it and enjoy it when they hurt other people.
1 to 4 % of the population apparently (Google psychiatry sites).
While I agree with you about avoiding confrontation
I am wondering if I am correct in thinking there is some victim blaming here?
I think there are lessons for probation and the judiciary here.
And Labour who have reduced the prison population by 20% perhaps by not locking up people like this guy.
It defies belief that when he had already assaulted someone, he based up his partner, including cloaking her and later said he was going to take her family out, that he was still allowed out
Perhaps we should just lock anyone up who breaks the law, no matter how trivial the offence is. Shoplift? Prison. Or perhaps just lock up all brown people. Sorted.
I suppose you support prisoners getting raped and bashed while they are inside.
Horrific turn of events. Just a sad day all round. Yes, this will get politicised. It’s unavoidable. Sadly.
My only thought would be about how young men don’t fully develop their pre-frontal cortex till about 25-26 years of age. In some respects a 20 or 22 year old is acting with a slight degree of child-like behaviour, despite having the physical strength of a man.
We could continue to offer home detention with ankle bracelets to criminals under 25 who’ve committed violence, but I suspect the risks of them lashing out are far higher than over 25’s. Of course many will argue that car insurance firms only offering policies to male drivers over 25 is no protection against a complete tool at 28 driving recklessly. But, they’ve spent decades researching their user data about young males and the 25+ age bracket stands the test of time. Sometimes a pragmatic solution is required when the ideal solution doesn’t exist.
Expecting Matu Reid to reflect on his prior actions and rationalise his future actions may not have actually been possible this week.
Thanks Kiwi Pete. Your measured thoughts about the situation overall are welcome.
Thanks Martyn for your words today.
Deepest respects and kind thoughts to all concerned.
A cultural report prepared for the sentencing said Reid had “systemic deprivation” in his background, a disconnection from his culture, a history of family instability and hardship and had been exposed to domestic violence and physical abuse as a young person.
He ran away from home at an early age. The report writer said there may also be mental health issues.
“All of that makes depressingly familiar reading to me, Mr Reid. You are one of a large number of young men who come before this Court with those sort of background circumstances,” Judge Bonnar said.
…. there’s much said in these few media paragraphs which our society would do well to heed.
For all the comments agin the government above, I cannot believe for a minute, that the other lot would be any better. Probably a lot worse as they were responsible for many inept and ill-thought-through policies in their previous times of governing.
Perhaps then, TPM can convince some of their recalcitrant whanau to ‘do the right thing’ for their tamariki so that their young lives do not turn out as one of the Reid’s of this world?
You up for it, TPM?
With all due respect Verity, do you really think whanau can talk these young men out of being violent? The whanau who were responsible for this man’s abuse when he was a child?
I saw an interview with the two Te Pati Maori MPs who said they were going to abolish prisons, which would mean 100s of these young men free to roam the streets, get a shot gun, beat up their female partners.
These people are part of an on going familial inter generational pattern of serious violence. To date we haven’t been too successful with our inter ventions.
The Dunedin study tell us it is a combination of genes and the sort of background that this young man that cause this sort of violence.
I am not sure of the outcomes of rehab for people like this. I suspect the chance of true rehab is pretty low. We need long prison sentences. Just my opinion.
People like this man make others life hell. Those poor workers who lost their lives. My compassion goes to them and the others.
And yes a huge shout out to the police
I would really like to think so Anker, as Maori place so much mana (if that’s the right word) on whanau – we hear it so often- but, but, but… we can only hope that something better happens and it has to start somewhere.
Why not within the most powerful Court in the land and the Maori representatives there, themselves?
No one can talk violence out of someone. People can only do shit for themselves. We can offer tools to help – that is all. More to the point when I was young I was beaten a lot badly – I therefore knew it was wrong. So I decided not to be like that when I had kids. Chains can only be broken by ones self. My tools outside of the normal were working mentors.
Verity thats a very one sided statement
Most of us aren’t imaginative, so I take Matu’s last name to heart — he was a Scot who went wrong. My Grandma was a Reid ( or red, like my hair). He’s my/our problem. Not ‘other’ in anyway. And we know how the ’84 Plutes produced the deprived.
I think some of the media coverage has been awful. ‘The world is watching because of the World Cup’. Shall we have our tragic little ode to neoliberalism, and those left behind, at a more convenient time shall we?
Pretty poor taste even in sarc and even from you Millsy.
The guy killed 2 innocent people just going about their lives. What race he was (you brought it up) matters not, the fact is he was a POS
Well, you dont have to worry about him anymore then. One less black thug.
Not excusing this particular individual at all for so violently losing the plot but it is interesting that witnesses said he wasn’t shooting randomly but seemed to be searching for his victims. Couple this with the fact that construction sites are known to be amongst the worst places for workplace bullying and maybe something like this adds up to some kind of motive. I’m guessing we won’t see any discussion of workplace bullying anytime soon in relation to this incident but successive governments have ignored the fact that we have the second highest rate of workplace bullying in the world. The Matu Reids of the world have no idea of how to stand up to workplace bullying through formal processes. But then it must be noted that Worksafe NZ has not made one single prosecution for workplace bullying ever, despite the issue being all over their website as a workplace hazard.
Let’s face it, how many people have entertained the innermost thought that they would like to shoot their boss or bosses? In fact, a survey was done a few years ago by some researcher that showed the percentage of people who have that thought is way up in the 90s (it even made a story on prime time TV news).
If this tragic incident gets politicised lets hope it’s about the inadequacy of so-called ‘anger management’ programs and the lack of on-the-job psychologists in these programs. But also, more than that, the stupidity of ACT’s free for all gun fantasies.
Popularly perceived as a mark of shame, having to go to work wearing an electronic ankle bracelet, would have made him a target for bullying.
What are you saying here, he shot two innocent people because of work place bullying?
Given his track record it is more likely he was the work place bully and that may have been why he was fired the day before the shooting
Thank goodness he wasn’t able to get hold of an assault rifle. Actually thank Jacinda, and hope ACT doesn’t roll back this sensible law.
So it is a ‘sensible law’ that doesn’t work as he still got hold of a firearm and killed people. Meanwhile, back here on planet real, a huge bureaucracy is being created policing sensible hunters who don’t shoot people.
Yes lets also thank Jacinda & the NZ police for letting an Australian citizen get a NZ gun license and go on a shooting spree too shall we?! What a muppet
Your sycophantic praise is misplaced i think. He got a gun because we let actual terrorists (gangs) run riot here
Actually Ross the standards that allowed the terrorist to obtain the firearm existed long before Jacinda became PM.
Ohh ok, so we should thank Helen Clarks government? Except Mr Kelly this violent criminal with a long history didn’t get his gun legally did he. Batting Zero Peter
Tell me, have the NZ police ever shot innocent people? YES and they got away with it every single time because they get to hide behind balaclavas
Ross, obviously all you are able to do is blame all our problems on Labour PM’s. Not sure how or why you now shift this discussion to one of ‘the Police have got away with shooting innocent people’.
Yes Daniel, totally agree. Thank you Jacinda. This sad event and its tragic consequences shows why strong robust firearms control is neccessary.
Making the simple point that NZ police love guns, guns that we can’t have and thus are total fucking hypocrites. They see them as tools I guess for obviously for they criminals they just can’t be bothered actually dealing too and ending their terrorist rein over NZ society. End the gangs for good NZ police or get the fuck out of our way.
So all the gangs have handed in their rifles with high capacity magazines (what dummies call assualt rifles – it takes only one bullet to kill someone btw) have they? Are you sure about this?
they are commonly known as assault rifles even amongst the gun community bg you dummy,…whether ‘the gangs’ handed in their weapons is immaterial unless you PERSONALLY are going into a stanoff with pretend gangstas….well are you? thought not
No they don’t gagarin, are you hitting the bottle again?
Exactly. Tarrant could just rock on into the country and buy himself a small arsenal, and none raised an eyelid or anything for that matter. Having the gun registry will enable the firearm to be traced, and the person who supplied it to him will be found and made accountable.
Thoughts are with the families of those slain and the bravery of our police. But very soon our thoughts need to turn to what caused the tragedy – the gun, the man or the ankle bracelet? The ankle bracket was the thing our regulators had the most control over – and in the grim light of hindsight, the decision was a poor one – how many more poor decisions have been made? Longer term our thoughts need to turn to Why are so many of our families producing young men like this? then How can that be changed?
Why? Because we have weak kneed pussyfooting socialists running our country from ALL political sides. They fix absolutely nothing and only create chaos. Either way they get paid above inflation.
Brave police reaction – heroes.
Government this will continue – here’s the next contestant for destruction.
It is about fken politics.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300931432/teen-mob-member-who-broke-into-home-and-sexually-assaulted-pregnant-woman-gets-home-detention
The rot needs to be accountable from the very top – when these low lives remain in the community after such hideous crimes what else do you think is going to happen.
Can I ask – Is there rehabilitation on an ankle bracelet if you are working?
We don’t talk about victims and the hideous impact it has on them – we turn prisoners into victims in the media. You have to to stop this – until you are a victim you will never understand.
If it is your 2nd offence of violence, and you break a woman’s bone in her neck, how was he assessed as being of low chance of offending? If he had gone back and killed the partner would the government care? My guess is, probably not.
Hopefully not a stolen gun, when the police failed to keep their own records safe. https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/06/gun-owners-upset-after-sensitive-firearms-details-stolen-from-former-auckland-city-police-station.html
I’m all for police on the streets and their efforts, but they need to have much better practices at the top and through the legal and privacy system, which has become unjust.
NZ needs to get the basics right, aka correctly assessing parole, and safeguarding public information before going out and creating new laws. If they got the existing systems right, then NZ would be a safer place.
The ‘racism’ of police could be as simple as they can’t seem to get the reports right, and nobody seems to care. Seen this first hand when whanau have had their records come up as completely wrong because they have a well known Maori surname that then gets put into a probation report with offending another Maori with same name, never did!!!! All good with this guy, as her surname is Reid! The opposite problem seems to have happened when clearly he was more likely to reoffend.
Apparently judges themselves, are getting super annoyed with the judicial system. Aka they are essentially forced to provide a sentence based on a mathematical basis, not actually the facts in each crime. If NZ judges don’t do that, it is appealed. That is why sentencing is so wildly unfair now, based on the facts.
Added to this, some judges are apparently very lazy, and if a difficult case comes up, they then adjourn it, so they don’t have to make the effort and putting the work on the other judges – happening with the lawyers too. This then drives out times that offenders have on remand and living without knowing that the outcome will be. In the Nicky Hager case, police apparently targeted the judge who they knew was unlikely to know that he was a journalist.
Aka we are getting judges who woke are appointing for political purposes, who don’t seem up to the job and the system under it. Some of the so called racism, is those preparing the reports have a lack of attention to detail when providing details of the previous offending that is not true, that nobody seems to care about as well as the legal system driving out time frames. They then over react and let everyone out.
To my point on family violence and bail. The mathematical approach is stopping risks and justice.
Quite different between someone accused of family violence where there is no marks or heresy evidence who should get bail, compared to those who have punch marks and fractures and a history of family violence. Those that have a history are accessed of breaking bones/serious assault and stabbing people etc, Reid and others, https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/woman-refuses-neighbour-cigarette-stabbed-23-times-and-left-for-dead/YAWSCIQGZZBAXPYAN435KLAHO4/ should generally not be out on bail in my view.
Likewise the perp at the Speak Up for Woman, should not be out on bail as his blow fractured the victims eye socket. Whether meant or not, a deliberate blow to someone else, that fractures (especially to a woman or child) should not be taken lightly by the courts and there should be clear consequences of jail.
Part of the enablement of violence that is engulfing NZ, is minimising physical violence against woman and children, while prioritising more and more task forces on speech that wokeforces subjectively perceive as violence. Part of the woke/ Price Harry victimhood, where words matter, and you can milk it for decades and involve hideous amounts of public money, comes to mind. Meanwhile there is never enough money to help youth and woman who are being attacked.
Instead of all the other shit government are doing, they should be building and supplying more places for youth offenders that offer real help not woke enablement – however at 24 I think Reid should have been considered an adult for his actions.
If parents and caregivers are beating up kids and again there are marks and physical injuries and an at risk home with continued violence, take them away, don’t let cultural stupidity, allow continued abuse.
Great, cut spending on schools and hospitals and spend it on prisons and cops.
You would love it in the USA. If you so much as sneeze there you are put in prison.
I wish you were passionate about supporting a decent welfare system, free health care and universal education as you support building hundreds of new prisons, and giving police powers to just gun people down willy nilly.
The usual toxic & cynical suspects comment–time to clean out the S-bend this blog has become Martyn. Close it down, reboot with real identities required.
Yes yes, shut down actual Freedom of Speech because you find it offensive & toxic. Just leave please, go to North Korea. REAL conversations are needed in a healthy democracy, including the ones you don’t like.
But it’s OK for you to use a pseudonym?
Rat in a cage he did not have a criminal record which is why the judge gave him the benefit of the doubt, he committed domestic violence something common in our country and not taken seriously enough. In most cases domestic violence is committed by men, but women also do it. His partner said she did not want him to go to jail, he had abided by all the rules in place, but he snapped a bit like the women on trial from South Africa who went on to kill her three young girls. Unfortunately, some people do and can snap/lose it and people wish they did something but often when it’s too late.
Gun registers are a waste of time and money as other countries have found out. We once had a gun register here years ago but it was thrown it out as it was useless. Even with modern computerised data bases Canada ditched their gun register as it was unreliable. Millsy surely you are aware that tracing of weapons in criminal hands via a gun register would have an extremely low success rate because crims file or grind off the identifying numbers and make modifications to the weapons. Some crims do get weapons from legit fire arms owners but most are sourced elsewhere. e.g. Assembled from parts, stolen, smuggled in & these days 3D printed. Crims do not register their firearms. Hence my claim the gun registers are a waste of time and money.
But how else would you spend the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been wasted on Labour’s failed firearms laws? Affordable housing? Improved education & learning assistance? Support for those struggling? Helping people into meaningful work? Helping addicts beat drug dependency? Of course not, that would just be stupid!
Affordable housing? Improved education & learning assistance? Support for those struggling? Helping people into meaningful work? Helping addicts beat drug dependency? Of course not, that would just be stupid!
Ratsarse – Labour is doing the things you are concerned with, more than National did in the past, or will do in the future. If you are not talking crap, and truly and honestly believe in your heartfelt concerns, you must vote Green or Maori, as they are the only parties in parliament, with even greater emphasis on social justice than Labour.
Please name your source, with evidence that Labours firearm laws, have failed?
The image reminds me of an African boy soldier. He may be in NZ/AO but no-one knows how to encourage and help and give work to young men in this country. They have nothing to lose and demonstrate their dissatisfaction with having no sort of life to gain. If we can’t bring some gratification to their lives, there will be more demons to demonstrate.
The middle class want crime to go away. They think they are so smart, so good that the world should be formed to suit them. With no concern to be real citizens in a co-operating, caring community themselves with what they have achieved and capitalised on, how and why should those with next to nothing co-operate when they get so little as their share?
Well put Greywarbler.
Not sure what you are talking about Greywarbler. The guy had a job on the contruction site that he returned to and shot up.
To compare the conditions that this young man grew up into the privations of African child soldiers is a huge frigging stretch.
there is a point where understanding and empathy becomes enabling
Cam Slater, meanwhile said the government had “blood on it’s hands”.
Good take on this most senstive and tragic event. Poor childhood environments are not an excuse for violent crime or any crime, in fact.