While we're at it, we might as well increase the age limit on firearms licenses. It seems a little daft that you can own and operate a deadly weapon, but you're not considered old enough to watch them being used on TV in a realistic manner (one that doesn't glorify the use of gun violence). The R18 Strong Violence rating is an example of this, R16 movies tend to have that slightly animated feel: if we feel like we need to protect our children from these sorts of movies, why can't this extend to guns?


Where to from here?
It's important that we don't lose sight of what makes New Zealand special.
This will endure in our minds for time to come, but it shouldn't stop us from doing the things that all Kiwis do.

We shouldn't need to fear walking to the supermarket, going to school and we sure as hell shouldn't be persecuted for practicing our religious beliefs. Whether or not we can ever feel that level of safety again remains to be seen.

The actions of the government in the next couple of weeks will likely help calm the population, but there will always be a lingering fear of a re-occurrence that we will need to learn to shake together.

Unfortunately, as I wrap this up, reports of more deaths in a mass shooting in the Netherlands have surfaced.



Humanity still has a long way to go.
Quaid J. Leckey