The Politically Correct and Idiotic Politicians of New Zealand

In a fatuous, pointless, useless, sentimental gesture, the government of New Zealand is to tighten up the country’s gun laws. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said yesterday, “Our gun laws will change.” She amplified her remark: “This ultimately means that, within ten days of this horrific act of terrorism, we will have announced reforms which will, I believe, make our community safer. We have made a decision and, as a cabinet, we are united.”

This is not an act of policy, but only a publicity stunt. The New Zealand cabinet’s decision reminded me of a line from Beyond the Fringe, a popular satirical revue from the 1960s in which, at a time of crisis, a government minister announces: “We need to make a futile gesture at a moment like this.”

For the point is that if you ban guns, or at least make them harder to obtain, only the bad guys will possess them. Have you noticed: it is only the lawless people who act lawlessly? The great majority of us are law-abiding and quite without murderous intent – and so we don’t need to be told that it’s rather naughty to go out and shoot a few dozen people.

No psychopath intent on mass murder will be deterred by a ban on guns. Or are we to suppose that a determined killer will sit down quietly and say to himself, “Oh dear – I was going to create a bloodbath this morning but now I can’t, because the government has banned firearms!” To change the analogy: sweeping the muck under the carpet doesn’t get rid of the stink.