2 years of the fake news propaganda mockingbird the russian collusion delusion

• Take a bow, New Zealand for showing those Jesuslanders how its done…

from The Washington Post…

EDITORIAL: It took New Zealand 26 days to act on gun control.
Congress has been stalling for years.

Less than a month after a terrorist attack, the nation bans most semi-automatic firearms.

By THE WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL BOARD | 6:06PM EDT — Wednesday, April 10, 2019

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks at a news conference in Christchurch on March 28. — Photograph: Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images.

FIFTY VICTIMS. Twenty-six days. That — along with common-sense leadership from government officials — is what it took for New Zealand to pass a law that bans most semi-automatic weapons in the country. The contrast with the United States is both inescapable and striking. Despite the loss of far more lives in far more mass shootings — more than 2,000 mass shootings since the slaughter of elementary school children in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 — Congress has refused to make any significant change in federal gun law, including a needed reimposition of the ban on the assault rifles that are often the weapons of choice of mass murderers.

“I can recall very vividly the moment I knew that we would need to be here, doing what we are doing right now,” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday as Parliament voted to outlaw military-style semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles. Attacks on two mosques in Christchurch by a white nationalist on March 15 had killed 50 people and, she said, “I could not fathom how weapons that could cause such destruction and large-scale death could have been obtained legally in this country.” She put a temporary ban in place just days after the terrorist killings. Legislation to make the ban permanent and authorize a buy-back of the banned weapons moved swiftly through Parliament, passing with the support of all but one of the 120 lawmakers.

New Zealand's form of government makes it easier for the ruling party to pass legislation. There also is no constitutional right to own guns, as exists in the United States with the Second Amendment. But the most significant difference between the two countries — even as the vast majority of Americans favor sensible gun laws — is the outsize and malign influence of the National Rifle Association.

There have been some encouraging signs that the gun lobby's control over lawmakers may be waning in the face of growing effectiveness of grass-roots movements for gun safety. Hopefully, the resolve shown by New Zealand will serve as a model. It is notable, for example, that the government there consulted with the country's hunting and rural communities about the impact of an assault-weapons ban and the general consensus was that military-style weapons were not really necessary. Indeed, even before the ban was enacted, some gun owners surrendered their semi-automatic weapons. Tweeted one farmer: “Until today I was one of the New Zealanders who owned a semi-automatic rifle. On the farm, they are a useful tool in some circumstances, but my convenience doesn't outweigh the risk of misuse. We don't need these in our country.”

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• Editorials represent the views of The Washington Post as an institution, as determined through debate among members of the Editorial Board. The board includes: Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt; Deputy Editorial Page Editor Jackson Diehl; Deputy Editorial Page Editor Ruth Marcus; Associate Editorial Page Editor Jo-Ann Armao, who specializes in education and District affairs; Jonathan Capehart, who focuses on national politics; Lee Hockstader, who writes about immigration, and political and other issues affecting Virginia and Maryland; Charles Lane, who concentrates on economic policy, trade and globalization; Stephen Stromberg, who specializes in energy, the environment, public health and other federal policy; David Hoffman, who writes about foreign affairs and press freedom; Molly Roberts, who focuses on technology and society; and editorial cartoonist Tom Toles. Op-ed editors Michael Larabee, Robert Gebelhoff and Mark Lasswell; letters editor Jamie Riley; international opinions editors Elias Lopez, Karen Attiah and Christian Caryl; international opinions writer Jason Rezaian; digital opinions editor James Downie; operations editor Becca Clemons; editor and writer Christine Emba; and digital producer and writer Mili Mitra also take part in board discussions. The board highlights issues it thinks are important and responds to news events, mindful of stands it has taken in previous editorials and principles that have animated Washington Post editorial boards over time. Articles in the news pages sometimes prompt ideas for editorials, but every editorial is based on original reporting. News reporters and editors never contribute to editorial board discussions, and editorial board members don't have any role in news coverage.

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