Beware the Ides of March – A Black Day for NZ

Contributed by a lawful member of the NZ firearm owning public

The Ides of March – it is said to beware of them.  In ancient Rome, the Romans considered the Ides of March (March 15) as a deadline for settling debts. But if you’ve heard of the Ides of March, it’s probably due to William Shakespeare. In Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar”, a soothsayer attracts Caesar’s attention and tells him, “Beware the ides of March.” Caesar ends up dismissing the soothsayer, saying “He is a dreamer; let us leave him. Pass.” Two acts later, Caesar is assassinated on the steps of the Senate.

On March 15th  2019 an Australian born leftist struck a blow against the lawful gun-owning community of New Zealand from which we may never fully recover.

In the immediate aftermath of the heinous killings at two Christchurch mosques New Zealand’s inexperienced “accidental” Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, recognized and seized the opportunity for an orgy of virtue signalling unparalleled in the world to that date. 

Donning a Muslim Hijab “as a sign of respect” the Prime Minister “led the Nation” in assuring the, so far, the small Muslim community of New Zealand that “they are us”.  It is abundantly clear that a majority of them don’t actually want to be “us” and prefer to maintain their distinctive clothing and uncompromising “religion” with its hatred of gays and treatment of women as second class citizens.  

It became bizarre. All this was brushed aside, ignored, as Radio New Zealand was ordered to play the adhan or call to prayer and submission “La ilaha illa Allah” (There is no God but Allah) in our still nominally Christian country.

Almost immediately after Jacinda Adern (mindless of her huge carbon footprint) jetted off to bask in the adulation of those two small-man titans of international virtue signalling President Macron of France (approval rating barely 30% up from 23% late last year) and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada (whose approval rating is “hideous” at -27%). 

Whilst many in New Zealand lauded Ardern for her “caring and compassion” a significant number of the more worldly-wise were not so fooled and looked on in disbelief that a Prime Minister could be so un-self-aware as to be pictured with two such soy boy loser politicians on the international stage.

Of far more and lasting significance than her pandering to Islam was the ban that Jacinda Ardern immediately announced on “all the guns used in the Christchurch shooting” and the ban on the “manifesto” of Brenton Tarrant which laid out in considerable detail why he did what he did and answered many of the questions the public had a right to ask. This simultaneous attack not only on entirely innocent, law-abiding, licenced gun owners and on the opportunity for the public to gain an understanding of why this horrible attack took place on New Zealand soil, is deeply disturbing and highly suspicious. Some have argued that Ardern is following a script written by the hard left, anti-gun activists which seeks to disarm the law-abiding worldwide and make gun owners into pariahs. 

Whether this will be successful in New Zealand remains to be seen. New Zealand has had a strong “gun culture” since Captain James Cook first arrived here and firearms are “Taonga” for Maori  –  good luck convincing them to give up their treasure.

Now, four months on from the Christchurch shooting, we have a fairly good idea the way in which the Government is intending to penalize the law-abiding but absolutely no idea of what, if anything, they are proposing to do about illegal firearms used by the growing criminal gang fraternity and organized crime. The arrival of violent deported biker gang members from Australia, some of whom may have international gang associations with such groups as MS13 (who make the MM and BP look like a bunch of pussies), is a big concern. But the government thinks that confiscating semi-auto sporting rifles, many of which have been owned entirely without incident for decades is the most important priority and will somehow “keep us safe” – dream on!

One senior police officer, who told us he is “very experienced,”  said on TV the other day that “taking these semi-auto guns off the streets” will mean we are all safer. How does one rise to a senior rank in the police while spouting such rubbish?  

As a lawful gun owner of unblemished record for more than 50 years I have to tell him that these guns were never “on the streets” and mouthing Tony Blair’s stupid and offensive remark following the Dunblane incident in 1996, does no favours for his credibility. The only time I have ever seen an AR15 “on the streets” it has been in the hands of a member of the biggest gang in the country. Weren’t the gang just all over the place following the mosque shooting and, ask yourselves, to what purpose exactly?!

Among measures in the second round of gun law changes just announced are reducing the licence period from 10 years to five. Going to a ten-year licence from the lifetime licence produced no measurable effect and no benefit so we can expect the same with this pointless change except, of course, an increase in cost and the bureaucracy so beloved of left-wing governments. An attempt will be made to register all guns over a five year period. Registration schemes have been tried and found to be without value in numerous countries. Canada spent $2 billion on their Bill C68 (against the advice they sought from the New Zealand police) before abandoning the system as ineffective and a waste of resources in 2012.  A number of other measures have been proposed which will achieve precisely nothing and which will, hopefully, not survive the proper Select Committee process denied to the most contentious measure in New Zealand’s firearms history.  

It is worth noting that the police do not maintain a Register of Stolen Firearms. So if they happen to come across an illegally held firearm with its serial number intact in the course of their work, they have no idea where it came from or who it legitimately belonged to. Such a register would be small, not a great many guns are stolen each year, easily maintained, accurate and might very well have some practical use in solving crimes. The government and police don’t seem to think this would be worth the effort. Why not?

Also not mentioned in the latest round of law changes was the long-overdue removal of administration of the Arms Act from the police. It is the job of the police to deal with criminals. The vast majority of licenced shooters are NOT criminals and should, therefore be of no concern to the police unless they come to their attention in some other matter. Police do not issue drivers licences but deal effectively with motoring offences. We could expect a much more effective and less costly system of licencing if firearms licences were handled by an independent contractor which would free up police resources to concentrate on criminals.

Of course, all these new laws are going to cost the taxpayer. The cost will be vast – make no mistake of that. Two hundred million dollars has been budgeted for the woefully misnamed “buy back” which indicates to me that the government does not expect a high degree of compliance. In the last week or so the press and radio have begun to question whether the expenditure of such huge sums of taxpayers money on virtue signalling legislation which the large body of overseas experience shows, will achieve very little if anything at all. Most certainly it will not do anything “to keep us all safe” and is a waste of scarce financial resources. This is a little bit of good news.

When the public wake up to the fraud that is being perpetrated upon us by the Ardern Government they may well be “a little bit miffed.” Let us hope that awakening happens before next year’s election.

Footnote: For understandable reasons, the writer requested his/her name not be published
Editor’s note: For some reason, the media seem to have missed that the tragic mosque shooting took place on the “Ides of March”. Was it deliberate as to date or coincidence?

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