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Tuesday, 19 March 2019

Republicans must follow Ardern’s lead and stand up to the gun lobby | Dani Garavelli

In stark contrast to the US, New Zealand is showing how a country invested in the safety of its citizens ought to respond

Hours after 50 worshippers were killed at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was already promising to tighten up the country’s gun laws. It’s a stark contrast to Donald Trump’s reaction to mass shootings, a written-by-numbers offer of “thoughts and prayers”, then a twiddle of his thumbs until the next atrocity. New Zealand’s response seems to have more in common with Scotland where the massacre at Dunblane primary school in 1996 led to a ban on all handguns.

There are some pronounced differences between the two countries. New Zealand’s gun laws are lax; the UK’s gun laws had already been tightened and semi-automatic centrefire rifles banned in the wake of the Hungerford massacre in 1987. But what Scotland and New Zealand share is little previous experience of spree shootings, a visceral shock at the scale of their country’s loss and a determination to prevent it happening again.

Related: New Zealand attack: victims of the mosque massacre

Related: Naming the Christchurch suspect is a choice. The media must make it carefully | Gaby Hinsliff

Related: Andrew Bolt and my other media colleagues seem incapable of self-reflection after Christchurch | Gay Alcorn

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from Islam | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2HvENfs

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