It's a sad reminder of one of the reasons we decided to emigrate. I don't speak for Matt, but for me personally, I believe that guns are not the answer to this country's problems. More guns in the hands of teachers are not the answer. Not even the stiffest gun control laws are the answer, either.
When we visited New Zealand, we were struck by the peacefulness and low-violence culture that exists there. People didn't carry guns. They didn't have to. Why not? Because it is a culture of trust, a culture of empathy, a culture of loving your neighbor as yourself.
Based on our experience, we found that Kiwis trust more than Americans. They trust that if they ask a complete stranger out to coffee, it will be a nice time. They trust that if you sleep in their guest bedroom, you won't rip them off. They trust that you won't shoot them, because you can't, because open carry laws are not allowed unless you are a herder, farmer, or hunter.
So, they are free to trust. They are free to be peaceful.
To be clear, a New Zealander can apply for to own a gun, but it is not easy to obtain, and you must go through proper channels to acquire one. It is a privilege and a responsibility to have a gun, just as it is a privilege and a responsibility to own a car. You can kill someone with your car or with a gun, so you need to do the correct things to get them registered, get trained to use them, and use them responsibly. But it seems to me that, by and large, New Zealanders just aren't that interested in packing heat.
You've heard the saying "Freedom has its price." We are free as Americans to bear arms. But the price to that freedom is peace. Kiwis are free to live in a peaceful society, but the price they pay for their freedom to live peacefully is the inability to own weapons.
We were shocked to learn that New Zealand police officers do not usually carry guns on their person. You read that correctly: there are virtually no gun-slinging Kiwi cops. A guy at a hostel told us this (we fact checked it, and it's true). Baffled, we asked him "But what is someone is doing something bad and the police officer needed his gun right away?"
The guy at the hostel looked at us kind of weird, then said something to the effect of "The only deadly threat to a police officer is a gun. But no one here has guns, so there is no reason for the officer to shoot someone. If a criminal doesn't have a gun, the police officer can use other means of apprehension, like bodily force to arrest the suspect."
A few days later in Dunedin, we met a cattle farmer named Greg Wilson (he's also an amazing poet and the lyricist of my song "Tall Kanuka."). Being that I had never really had a conversation with a cattle farmer before, I took the opportunity to ask him some questions, and one of my questions was about the right to bear arms in New Zealand. His answer was that Kiwis do not see it as a right. They see it as a responsibility.
But more to the point, they see it as need-based, not right-based. He said to me "If you're not herding cattle or hunting, why do you need a gun?" I answered "For protection." But then I thought about my answer: protection, but from what? The police? They don't carry guns. From other people? How can they seriously hurt me if they don't have guns?
No guns with the criminals = no guns with the police = no need for guns in the general population = no social distrust or vilification of law enforcement.
The fact is, we in America are playing a large-scale Russian roulette within our society. We are in a giant arms race with ourselves. It's a domestic Cold War. I don't think forced gun control in the answer. That will only further push gun sales into the black market, where criminals thrive. But I don't think more guns with teachers and police are the answer, either.
We need to look deeper, inward, into our hearts. We need to ask ourselves individually "Why do I want a gun?" If the answer is "Because I hunt deer," that's a valid reason. But if the answer is "because it's cool" or "because it's my right as an American," then ask yourself: is this the America the founding fathers envisioned -- a nation where children are murdered by the thousands each year? A nation where we are distrustful of police, of the government, of each other?
Where is our love? Our empathy? Our harmony? Our trust?
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