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Will read the details later. So many tragic events around the world and most of them don’t even reach the headlines. 
What is particularly sickening is that the events were live-streamed to Facebook. Looked like a FPS game, one magazine after another, and the perp seemed to treat his experience as a FPS game too.
Debates about violence, guns, games, religion, etc., ensue, and people forget about the actual victims and figuring out how to help the survivors, family and friends endure the subsequent lifelong and generational hardships.
Gun control has been stronger in NZ since the 1990 Aramoana shootings, which I remember in my time at university; I was in a vacation job at a bank (having had banking experience), and the wife of the then NZ Police Commissioner (National Chief of Police) worked in the same branch. Plenty of discussion then. That was a deranged man, however.
It appears the firearms involved yesterday were all legally purchased and the perp had not triggered (sic) any alerts.
This occasion is New Zealand’s 9/11 … the shock-to-the-system catastrophic terrorism. Here in Australia, the Bali Bombings of 2002 and the Lindt Cafe siege of 2014 have raised public awareness of terrorism.
The fact that this was a series of Islama-phobic ultra-right hate crimes is sickening.
However I admire and respect the NZ Prime Minister’s response.
If you could direct me to some of the relevant articles, that would be great, preferably the more neutral and factual ones, because the last thing I would want is certain people causing a ruckus and ruining this thread.
This one:
Australian Broadcasting Corporation Story
appears fairly balanced. It also links to Prime Minister Ahern’s statement.
These wikipedia links seem fairly balanced, there is no great dispute about their neutrality:
Aramoana shootings
Syndey Lindt Cafe siege
2002 Bali Bombings