Calling Russia, China, UK, Australia, India, Canada-

You get the picture? Do 'you' all need lots of guns in private ownership? Of course you don't even though you may have good reason to defend yourselves against the Government. But the USA does! Sad eh, because the vast majority of Americans are just like everyone else in the world---peace loving and familly orientated and good people. They just have this fatal flaw. We still love the people of the USA though eh.

The world is watching the USA!

If anyone in the USA needed a reason to think more deeply about the gun law issue, then they should have been watching Piers Morgan on CNN TV today. I had to go out before I saw the families of the Aurora massacre talking about how they felt about guns, but I did see Piers interviewing a guy form a ‘defence league.’

If a reason was needed to start a debate about fundamental change in the USA, then he provided a prime example for the reasoning behind those almost sacredly held views to be turned around. He took pride in seeing the ‘faces change on people when they used guns.’ How sick is that? OK, I expect the proponents of the present gun laws will say that he is not the ‘norm’ and that his thinking is flawed. Is that so? Is he not typical of those who think they need an automatic weapon or high powered gun to protect themselves from ‘home invasion,’ or other harm; or those twats who say they need guns to protect themselves from the inevitable collapse of the USA economy or the ‘takeover of the USA by the United nations?’

I guess in any large population you are going to have the ‘fringe thinkers,’ and they will give their lives to uphold their spurious beliefs. One does not have to look too far to see examples of this type of thinking in the USA. That this groups and the NRA hold so much sway over the law-making processes in the USA is indeed frightening.

Now, I suspect that my blogs of late would have some in the USA (Let’s face it--- you make up over 70% of my readership) thinking I am ‘hating on the USA;’ far from it. I know that culturally and in many other ways, the people in New Zealand are very much the same as New Zealanders. Take away the accent differences and 90% of the time, you would find that we speak with the same words; have the same aspirations and within the bounds of ethnic diversity, look the same. Yeah, we are even as fat as our friends in the USA!

We have the same sense of community, a similar education system, same faith system along with the variants. It is more a matter of scale which throws up the differences. You just have a large number of ‘way-out’ cults and belief systems,’ but take those variations away and---WE ARE THE SAME, APART FROM YOUR TOTALLY irrational love affair with guns.

You have been fed this crap about the Second Amendment, which was formulated at time that was uncertain politically and based the right to bear arms on weapons that would have trouble hitting a squirrel at a hundred yards. OK, slightly exaggerated, but you get my point.

In this day and age, such rights kill, not protect. There I go again—I have upset some friends I regularly talk to in the USA. They abhor my stance re guns. They demand the right to protect themselves from rapists and other harm. They say---‘Why should we give up our rights to arm ourselves because a few loonies go out and slaughter people. We are not like that.’

Of course you are not! Are we confusing rights and freedom, or overstressing our individual rights at the expense of the overall safety of the nation? Is there not a point where you need to sacrifice some of those rights because the perceived means of defending them has forced a price that is just too high for the USA? I believe you have reached that point as a nation. This stance goes very much against what Americans have held true for many years.

‘Well you can just bug off,’ you say, sometimes using much stronger words. Well, no we can’t. The USA has put itself out there as a nation that has influenced the world culture. The USA has power way beyond its population base. That brings with it a certain responsibility that means the rest of the world also has a right to comment. The USA and its huge economy depend on the rest of the world and unless you go back to the old days of ‘Isolationism,’ then you must listen to what the world says.

Whether you want it or not, a good deal of the world holds the USA ‘up there’ as a nation to emulate despite the bombs that hit your embassies around the world. This is not going to change in the near future. So---USA---have this debate and accept that we are all watching to see which pathway you take. Do what you need to stop killing your children, even if that means giving up some of your so-called ‘freedoms.’

For a really cheap deal on my books go to-----

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www.trademe.co.nz

Then go to books----fiction----New Zealand-----author A-C Then look for Neil Coleman  'Coastal Yarns,' 'Roskill,' and 'Talk To Me.'

Check out the options.  Then again, you can get them from me direct at neilcolemanauthor@gmail.com  or if you want to pay premium prices, go to www.authorneilcoleman.com

Cheers and Merry Xmas.
Neil
 

Gisborne---go for it---and to it!

It’s great to see sunny Gisborne put itself out there and challenge Aucklanders and other to relocate. For less than half of the average price of Auckland housing, one can move, possibly get employment and be mortgage free and have no more hassles with traffic. Rush hour--- what’s that?  

Then there is the climate and wonderful beaches and the wines country not far from Gisborne. OK, one has to think carefully about relocating, especially if there are kids, family and friends to consider, but isn’t that part of what our NZ psyche is all about? We have always been travellers and risk takers, right back to the time of the first Maori settlers and those who followed.

There is a good hospital there so no worries re health issues. With technological improvements, distance is less of an issue and really; Gisborne is only about 6 hours by car from Auckland and 50 minutes by air.

Get your gardening gloves out and check out some new fishing gear. It’s all there---in Gisborne and hey---they actually want us down there.

Guns---why so important in the USA?

Americans love their guns and the Second Amendment entrenches their right to bear them. One would think that the majority of Americans support this stance. Not so, but to change it would require a massive swing in public opinion for what has been a part of American history. That the powerful NRA has fought long and hard, backed up by powerful lobby groups and politicians from both parties make the prospect of change almost impossible.

Sure there has been law change, some lasting only a few years around the access to guns and the type of guns able to be procured, but guns remain a factor in the lives of many Americans. I heard that there are as many if not more gun stores in the USA as MacDonald’s. Is that a myth or a fact? If it is true, you can figure out for yourselves what that says about the USA.

Semi-automatics, assault rifles; call them what you like, are available with ‘checks’ by the authorities and of course there is the black market. How many guns are purchased through the latter? No one knows. It seems pretty obvious that the underworld provides for its own and in the USA that is a large sector of society.

There has been a great deal of debate about the issue of classification of assault rifles and semi-automatics. I actually don’t give a stuff about that, because it clouds the real issue. Too many Americans are dying because some prat gets hold of a gun or guns and goes on the rampage.

Then the debate shifts to the user of guns being a ‘sick person’ who has been let down by ‘mental health agencies.’ Of course that is true. We know about then lessening of the State mental health services here, in New Zealand. We have simply replicated the same philosophy as the USA when it comes to ‘public spending’ and then reap the obvious flow-ons.

For those hard-arsed (NZ spelling) people who say that ‘killers’ will still kill, but that they will use other methods, like knives, I say----When did you last hear of a knife wielding, mentally health challenged, crazy, criminal killers slaughtering 20 plus people. I rest my case on that issue.

America--- you are not alone in having mass slaughter. Just watch the news every night to observe the more extreme as seen in the Middle East and other far off nations and you will see slaughter on a massive scale. BUT---is there any other country in the world where there may be more than one gun for every person in the country? Does that not tell you something about ‘greatest country on earth?’

Please don’t get me wrong. I am not an anti-USA basher. I make connections with many Americans on a daily basis through social media circles available and I admire much about the contribution of American ideals and products. It’s just that you have this terrible Achilles Heel when it comes to GUNS and their use.