Another school shooting in America

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There are very huge differences, Aunt Blabby. Though both started as pioneer cultures, with war against the native population, they have gone in very different directions. Like Australians, New Zealanders basically believe is a "fair go" for everyone. It's not perfect, though New Zealand would be extremely unlikely to ever elect a demagogue to lead the country politically. We had one who sneaked into power once, and the lessons were learned from that mistake in the 1970s.

By and large, New Zealanders are centrists politically, not divided into two left and right tribes at war. We have free health care, and it is extended to visitors who are unlucky enough to have an accident here - whether they have travel insurance or not. They also get the same first rate hospital care, free of charge, until they are well enough to go home. This includes Americans.

We used to admire America once, though McCarthy, Nixon and Bush hardened our view, and now there is almost no positive regard for what Trump represents. We just don't like demagogues full stop, whatever their nationality.

There are things we could do better as in any country. But love for and protection of the environment is very dear to most kiwi hearts, and there is a lot of ill feeling about foreign companies wanting to come here and frack for profit, with little regard for environmental impacts.

We are generally sympathetic to political refugees and have taken many from all over (relative to our size) and continue to do so, currently from Syria in particular. We are multicultural, like the USA, and want to be a good international citizen. Though refugees have arrived from the most desperate places, we have never had a terrorist incident because of their presence here. As I have previously written about, the only terrorist incident was committed by an ally (the Chirac government).

We hate gun carnage, (I think I have made that pretty obvious) and though there are many guns here, the controls are acceptable to both gun owners and those like me who would never own one. A balance has been struck and it works. The essence of the fair go ethos is balance.

The other significant difference is that New Zealanders don't like, tolerate nor allow political patronage. The USA seems to be run on it too much for our liking. We don't like crony capitalism either - politicians paid off to promote certain industries - nor monopolies. The money flowing from the Koch brothers (for example) as a means to wield political power makes us shiver. Rich Americans buying citizenship here, like Peter Thiel, regardless of the law, also makes us nauseous.

There is much I can still like about the USA - the wildlife is magnificent, and I have experienced kindness and generosity in the South in abundance. But the carnage and trend to demagoguery saddens me. Recently I hosted a dinner for two people from North Carolina. They arrived at the dinner and immediately apologised to everyone for "the USA inflicting Trump on the world" and assured us they hadn't voted for him. I thought it was sad that they felt compelled to say that.

We allow the USA to have a base here that they control as an American territory, subject to American law, and have done so for a long time as our role as a good ally. As long as they don't bring nuclear weapons here, they will probably be allowed to stay and rule their secretive base here. No doubt they smuggle guns in on their planes which land at the base we give them, and the kind of weaponry very likely contravenes our gun laws, though the NZ government hasn't (yet) inquired into this. That could change.

Honestly, how many more lives need to be lost before gun-nuts see that guns are the problem? I seriously think America needs tighter gun restrictions.

B19, unfortunately most americans don't qualify financially or for other reasons, to emigrate to countries of the commonwealth. so we are stuck here and must remain in danger from the things you read about that have not yet been censored [prior restraint] by our cowed press. I expect this to change for the worse if dotard rump and his crowd get their way with the promiscuous broadening of libel laws here to cover basically all political opposition.

my dearest Austin those are dangerous words to write in this country. the inmates have the run of the asylum.

Yet America is expected to accept others into our county who can’t afford to be here and don’t have the skill to support theirself through gainful employment...

everything has to revolve around stinking filthy lucre. $$$$$$ is all some people can think about and they filter everything through the prism of $$$$$$$ and the stinking ableist faux-virtue of having the talent of making $$$$$$. no wonder so many people are going postal here. they can't keep up with the demands that our sociopathic culture places upon them to be perfect little money-making machines for The Man. nobody cares about school shootings, at least nobody that matters, it is just a statistic.

Good point, I will keep my mouth shut.

no no, just be aware that there are mean people here that can pop up out of nowhere. you have every right to speak up just like the rest of us.

Turn out it was a accidental discharge: after all, accidents and suicides are the main causes of gun deaths in the US.

Alrighty! Well I will just have to be on the alert for those mean people.

don't let them sucker you in like certain mind game players on this thread have done to me.

I still don't get how somebody could "accidentally" shoot 4 different people over a period of time.

“Accidental”, in other words someone didn’t keep their booger hook off the trigger or in this case tossed a loaded gun, probably a Glock with bunch of crap in a backpack. It wasn’t an accident (guns just don’t go bang), more negligent and poor parenting. Yes, ND or negligent discharge is the proper term in the industry and not “accidental”.

Interesting enough, once you exclude suicides from gun death statistics. It’s extremely low in reality and included, it’s still low when compared to other deaths. Example, medical errors are the third leading cause for death in America, just behind cancer and heart disease.

Benjamin Franklin placed a higher priority on “essential liberty” then safety. I interpret the word temporary as saying giving up liberty will provide temporary safety but long run danger.

It's not specific to guns but any liberty traded for safety and security, or maybe more commonly an illusion of safety and security.

Just like forks and spoons cause obesity...