Quote Originally Posted by Corso View Post
Apparently this has turned into a USA gun NRA thread. It's a shame it just couldn't stay about New Zealand. Good for them for doing what they feel is best for their own country.

While it's easy to make the NRA the big bad boogieman, consider its membership represents less than 8 percent of American gun owners. So before everyone starts condemning that single organization, consider your family members, friends, co-workers, politicians, doctors, teachers, firefighters, etc etc who legally own guns and do not support the NRA.

Many quietly own guns and support the right to do so. And those voters, that 92%-I propose, matter a bit more to the politicians than the NRA contribution$.

It's simply easier to make the NRA the bad guy, than your friends (who you may not realize) who own guns. But if that makes you sleep better, blame the boogieman.
New Zealanders have had the strength, compassion and conviction to understand that poisonous rhetoric about a group of people based on their religion, and firearms meant more for the battlefield than civilian use (much like the rest of the industrialized world), have no place in the public square. They've responded to an unspeakable national tragedy with a strength based in love and community, not pandering and fear.

It seems a lovely place run by sensible people. The US could learn a thing or two from them.