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The Pretense of “We are One”
It’s taken me some time to sit down and write my thoughts, because they are so hard to put into words, but it’s something I feel I must do.
Over the last week I have seen a side of New Zealand that I had hoped would never come to be. I have seen our nation hurt beyond comprehension by a lone outsider who wreaked havoc on the lives of the Muslim community and, in fact, all of New Zealand.
But what I have seen since, is how the words and actions of our county’s leaders are wreaking havoc on a much larger group with virtually no consideration to the impact.
I am speaking about the law-abiding firearms licence holders of New Zealand. (I’m going to refer to them as the FALH community from now on). Whether you like or dislike firearms, or agree or disagree with the changes that is being proposed, I want to put the following to you, just to consider the other side of the coin for one brief moment in time.
I am the partner of a FALH and I love him dearly. As for guns, I’m not particularly fussed by them either way, but can tell you that I will not ever own my own firearm nor can I fully understand the interest in them. What I can tell you about my partner and his guns, is that because of it, we can be together today. Let me explain; He distanced himself from people in his past with, let’s say, unsavoury interests as he didn’t want to risk his passion for the beauty, history and sport of firearm ownership. Thanks to that, we were able to meet and make a life together.
In all our time together, I have never seen him drunk once and never has he ever had a thought for driving even slightly tipsy – not because he doesn’t enjoy the occasional drink, but because he knows that if he takes a risk, something goes wrong, or he gets caught, it will cost him his firearms license. He is conscientious about firearm safety, sticking to the rules and laws of our country, and acting in a respectful way in all his interactions.
But now he is part of a community of people who have, overnight, been lumped into the same category as a madman. Permit me a moment to tell you about them.
The FALH that I know (and I know quite a few), are all the same type of people as my partner. They are courteous, caring, law abiding salt-of-the-earth guys and gals who would never dream of breaking any laws, let alone harming another person, because their love for their sport can be taken away from for the smallest mistake. You could be sitting next to them on the bus, living next door to them or even be sharing an office with them without ever knowing it. Because they are “good” people, like you and me!
People own firearms for a variety of reasons – some for sport, some as collectors, some for monetary investment, some for the history or beauty. Most of them own firearms for a combination of a few of these.
In our house, it’s because my partner has found a specific interest in the history and beauty of a specific era and the firearms that were made or used in that time. He collects a variety of other paraphernalia about those eras as well. He has discovered a discipline within firearm sports that he loves and has undertaken hours and hours of training to be a safety and a range officer; to reach the highest level of achievement in his sport.
Additionally, he has invested a significant amount of money in his firearms – he has bought, sold and traded over several years, to establish a collection of firearms he treasures and is so proud of.
I’ve heard this week that people say they cannot see the NEED for anyone to own a specific type of firearm. NEED… It’s a tricky word that! Me, I can’t see the NEED for alcohol, cigarettes, or gambling either, yet we still live in a society that allows all those things. And by my last count, alcohol abuse, gambling addiction and smoking-related illnesses have been the cause of far more destroyed families than firearms.
So yeah, maybe there’s no NEED for firearms, but in the bigger picture, as a society, we put up with a lot of worse things that we don’t NEED, so please excuse me if I don’t pay much heed to this argument, as it if fundamentally flawed.
This last week, FALH community have been to hell and back – well not back really, they are stuck in limbo. They are feeling sad and despondent and angry because the thing they have invested so much in, is being taken away from them. With virtually no consultation or consideration of the greater impact.
To add insult to injury, they are now being treated as if they pulled the trigger last Friday. This community is being ignored by our country’s leaders while they are making hurried, drastic changes that will impact the FALH community irrevocably!
Let me take a step back. The FALH community have for years said there are flaws in the Arms Act and the administration of it. They have urged for these flaws to be corrected, for those who are found guilty of firearm-related crimes to receive harsher punishments, for the Police to engage with them and hear them out. Then on Friday 15 March, things changed…
A madman broke the law by using a legally procured firearm and combining it with a magazine that is illegal to be used on his license (but which he can buy without ANY license!), and opened fire and killed 50 people, injuring about another 50. And suddenly our leaders were promising change. The firearms community thought this was finally the opportunity they were waiting on, to considerately, and thoroughly share their information, research, experience and advice with the country’s leaders.
However, no consultation was permitted. Changes made under urgency, behind closed doors, with very vague information was announced on Thursday.
With one announcement, our PM made near 250,000 people criminals for owning a firearm that they have not used in an illegal way.
These changes are going to shut down several small businesses. It’s nice of the PM to say she expects shops or wholesalers to send the “banned” firearms back to suppliers, but it’s really not that easy. Once a gun is imported into NZ, it cannot be “sent back”. Gun dealers have a number of firearms that they are selling in auctions, or that they have bought from Joe Blogs… Who are they returning it too? There is no where these guns can be returned too. They must be handed over to the Police for destruction with no guarantee of compensation to the true value of the firearm. With no consideration of the history of the firearm itself, or more importantly, the investment (in passion, time and money) of the person who must hand it over.
Families with mortgages and that need to put food on the table are going to have to carry the burden.
Our leaders have been saying that “they are us”, that “we are one” and that we are a nation that accepts and embraces diversity in all its forms. Really? Can we really say that, when in the last week, our leaders and the media have ostracised a community of 250,000 people? When we look in the mirror and pat ourselves on the backs for being such good citizens for standing with the families who were killed or injured in Friday’s shooting, let’s ask ourselves if “we are one” standing with the 250,000 other families that are also impacted by this tragedy.
My heart grieves with ALL the families that are impacted by this disgusting act of one loner who set out to achieve exactly this division we are seeing. Whether is a race, religion or passion that makes them a target of daily discrimination, I respect everyone’s right to believe, worship and take part in whatever activity they treasure, and I want to live in a country where we truly allow that for everyone.
With that said, I ask that the Government, engage with the FALH to discuss these changes, to not make a change that will impact the very people they are now refusing to engage with. I am asking that we embrace this group’s diversity too… the we can really be one, as the tone has been set over the last week...
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Lighted Fairy Woodhouses
Boston-based freelance artist Daniel Barreto combined houses with trees in a series of lovely photo manipulations titled Woodhouses. Barreto photographed parts of houses around Boston, and superimposed them onto images of tree trunks that he had taken in New Hampshire. The charming Woodhouses were even animated for effect, and resemble fairy’s houses in an enchanted forest.
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Breathtaking Paris | France (by Zed The Dragon)
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