To the editor:
Once again a community is grief stricken, 50 innocent people are dead and 50 families are devastated, all at the hands of one evil man. And once again local officials will seize the opportunity to punish thousands of innocent people for the crimes of that one, evil man.
There are 1.2 million civilian-owned firearms in New Zealand, not one of which was used in the attacks against the Mosques.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Not one law abiding citizen of New Zealand participated in the attack, yet every single citizen is about to be punished. Their crime will be their ownership (or someday wishing to own) a tool used by a mad man. Their punishment will be an even more egregious loss of the freedom to defend themselves than they’ve already suffered. It shall not matter that the murderer was foreign and already broke numerous existing laws. More laws always work, right?
Suppose the next terrorist drives a golf cart loaded with explosives up to a clubhouse and blows 50 clubhouse diners into the afterlife, will we stand for the banning of golf carts?
May as well, one response makes as much sense as the other.
Mike Pflum
Martinsville
