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News: Christchurch mosque shooting sees armed police deployed and schools in lockdown (Update: semi-automatic and automatic weapons ban)

Arcadia

By Arcadia,
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lewelma

lewelma

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I couldn't get in. The lines were thousands of people long -- check out the third photo. They were estimating 12K showed up. Buses and trains into the city were free and all street parking was free.  As we walked there, everywhere you looked, people were all going the same direction.

New Zealand has rallied around our Muslim community. As the PM said in her speech, which you can see on signs in rallies throughout the country: They are us. 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/111348087/wellington-weeps-capitals-huge-vigil-mourns-victims-of-christchurch-mosque-shootings

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elegantlion

elegantlion

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I have a questions for the Muslims. I had the opportunity to visit our local small mosque last year as part of a school "field trip." The mosque has been in town for about a decade or so. My town is about 75k people with some racist/xenophobic past (and present). The community at large now has been supportive of making sure the Muslim community feels welcome and safe, yet I am always concerned after violence of this nature that some alt-right supremacist will see this as a time to lash out against our mosque. 

Would it be appropriate to send a card to the mosque? Should I send a supportive card, sympathy card, hand written note of support? What is the etiquette in situation like this? 

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umsami

umsami

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4 hours ago, elegantlion said:

I have a questions for the Muslims. I had the opportunity to visit our local small mosque last year as part of a school "field trip." The mosque has been in town for about a decade or so. My town is about 75k people with some racist/xenophobic past (and present). The community at large now has been supportive of making sure the Muslim community feels welcome and safe, yet I am always concerned after violence of this nature that some alt-right supremacist will see this as a time to lash out against our mosque. 

Would it be appropriate to send a card to the mosque? Should I send a supportive card, sympathy card, hand written note of support? What is the etiquette in situation like this? 

Absolutely.  Those things help a lot and are especially useful to show to children so that they feel safer. ❤️ 

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lewelma

lewelma

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I think this is a beautiful picture of her -- the one further down shows her clasping her hands. She is the face of NZ, the face of our sadness.  (Don't forget that she has a 9-month old baby.) I feel very much that she is directing the country towards compassion and firm resolve.  

https://www.smh.com.au/world/oceania/face-of-empathy-jacinda-ardern-photo-resonates-worldwide-after-attack-20190318-p5152g.html

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goldberry

goldberry

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7 hours ago, lewelma said:

I think this is a beautiful picture of her -- the one further down shows her clasping her hands. She is the face of NZ, the face of our sadness.  (Don't forget that she has a 9-month old baby.) I feel very much that she is directing the country towards compassion and firm resolve.  

https://www.smh.com.au/world/oceania/face-of-empathy-jacinda-ardern-photo-resonates-worldwide-after-attack-20190318-p5152g.html

 

Those that think the atmosphere of a country is not affected by its leaders are in denial.  

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Arcadia

Arcadia

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OT. From BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47611811

“A gunman has opened fire inside a tram and at several other locations in the Dutch city of Utrecht, authorities say.

Several people have been injured and one is feared to have died, media reports say. 

Police say the gunman is still at large. Trains and trams have stopped running and schools have been asked to keep their doors closed.

Counter-terrorism police reportedly say the shooting "appears to be a terrorist attack".

Dutch anti-terrorism co-ordinator Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg said all efforts were now focused on catching the gunman. He also said there could be more than one perpetrator.

The threat level has been temporarily raised to its highest point in the province of Utrecht. 

Utrecht University has reportedly closed all buildings, with nobody allowed in or out. Trains are also not allowed to run into Utrecht Central station, and mosques across the city have reportedly been closed due to security concerns.

...

Police have increased security at airports throughout the Netherlands.

Security services have reportedly told Utrecht's University Medical Centre to open the dedicated emergency ward to help care for the injured.

The tram shooting happened at about 10:45 local time (09:45 GMT).

"A man started shooting wildly," one eyewitness told Dutch news site NU.nl.

Another witness told Dutch public broadcaster NOS that he saw an injured woman with blood on her hands and clothes.

"I brought her into my car and helped her," he said. "When the police arrived, she was unconscious."

It is unknown how many were injured or how seriously they were hurt.

Utrecht's transport authority said all trams have now been cancelled, due to the increased threat level.”

ETA:

From CBC CA https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/utrecht-netherlands-shooting-1.5060675

“Dutch police have released the name and photo of a Turkish man sought in connection with Monday morning's shooting on a tram in Utrecht that has left three people dead and nine wounded.

"The police ask you to watch out for 37-year-old Gokman Tanis (born in Turkey) in connection with this morning's incident," a police statement said.

...

Initially, police confirmed one person had been killed after they erected a tent over a body lying next to the tram. Utrecht Mayor Jan van Zanen later revised the death toll to three and said nine others were wounded, three of them seriously.

...

German police said they have upped surveillance on the country's border with the Netherlands and are on the lookout for the gunman responsible for the tram shooting. 

Heinrich Onstein, a spokesperson for the federal police in the border state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said additional police had been added to watch not only major highways, but also minor crossings as well as railway routes. ”

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Arcadia

Arcadia

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From MarketWatch https://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-zealand-bans-assault-weapons-just-days-after-mosque-massacre-2019-03-20

“CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced an immediate ban Thursday on semi-automatic and automatic weapons like the ones used in the attacks on two mosques in Christchurch that killed 50 worshippers.

The man charged in the attack had purchased his weapons legally using a standard firearms license and enhanced their capacity by using 30-round magazines “done easily through a simple online purchase,” she said.

“Every semi-automatic weapon used in the terrorist attack on Friday will be banned,” she said.

Ardern’s announcement comes less than a week after the killings, as more of the dead were being buried. At least six funerals took place Thursday, including for a teenager, a youth soccer coach and a Muslim convert who loved connecting with other women at the mosque.”

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lewelma

lewelma

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They are banning both the purchase and the ownership of these weapons, and all parts to make them, and all larger magazine/clips. There will be a buy back program.  There will also be carefully regulated exemptions to the ban -- I saw the example of a farmer who needs to cull his herd. 

We have a bunch of 20-something workmen (builders, joiners, electricians, etc) at my apartment complex this month, and they all support it. 

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kiwik

kiwik

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I fear there are not enough exemptions and not enough money for the buyback.  If you are a serious collector with a weopon worth 10's of thousands in your collection and are offered less than 1000 in the buyback it is going to breed illwill. These are responsible law abiding people who resent being made criminals overnight  and will probably follow the law but remember we don't know how many guns there are in NZ so if purchases that haven't been seen are buried no-one would know.  I would hate to see her lose the next election due to the backlash.  If they hold the weopons they consficate until after the enquiry finishes it may help.

It is nice to see someone actually act decisively though isn't it?

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lewelma

lewelma

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6 hours ago, StellaM said:

I hope that those women who abhor the violence and the attack on a Muslim community, but will never cover, in solidarity with the women around the globe who are forced to do so, are not assumed to be Islamophobic for not joining in. 

 

I saw only beauty in the photos and videos that were posted. People stood together. 

We are one.

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