Most Americans woke up Friday morning to the shocking news that a gunman had killed 49 people at two New Zealand mosques. Coming on a Friday, the story was quickly eclipsed over the weekend, but the consequences of the shooting will reverberate for some time to come. Here are eight of the most important lessons that we can draw from the shootings.
1. When Seconds Count, the Police Are (Many) Minutes Away
For those who watched the shooter’s video from the first mosque he shot up, what was most shocking was that no police showed up. People on the street watched him walk onto the mosque grounds with guns and undoubtedly heard him shooting. Numerous cars drove by. Yet he slaughtered dozens of people, went back to his car to get another gun, went back in and shot everybody again just to make sure they were dead, and then left. In total he was there for several minutes and not a single siren was heard. Police cannot prevent attacks like this, they can only clean up the mess.
Had anyone at the mosque been armed, things would have turned out differently. As it was, one man tried to rush the shooter. Had he been half a second quicker he might have been able to tackle him and end the shooting. At the second mosque, a lone hero managed to wrest the rifle away from the shooter and chase him away, firing two shots after him in the process and thus likely preventing the killing of many more people.
2. Most People Lack Situational Awareness
When confronted with the sight of someone decked out in full tactical gear and carrying weapons, many people will likely try to process what they’re seeing rather than react instinctively. They’re not expecting to see a deranged killer so their brains deny the reality of what they’re seeing until it’s too late. Had anyone on the street who saw the killer walking onto the mosque grounds shouted a warning, dozens of people could have made their escape rather than being shot like fish in a barrel.
3. Playing Dead Is Not an Option
The shooter was dead set on killing people, going from person to person after he had already shot them to make sure they were dead. In a situation like this you really have two options: fight or flight. If you can’t flee, it’s better to try to attack the shooter and keep him from killing more people rather than wait for him to find you and gun you down.
4. Leftists Are Giving the Shooter Just What He Wants
The shooter in his manifesto stated his desire to create a Helter Skelter-like situation in the United States, with leftists cracking down on the Second Amendment. He hoped that would precipitate an all-out armed conflict that would fracture the US along racial and cultural lines. US leftists were only too happy to play into his hands, with the typical knee-jerk reactions to ban guns or “assault weapons” coming from the usual suspects.
5. The Mainstream Media Is Spinning the Shooting as Much as It Can
The mainstream media is trying to spin the shooting as the work of a crazy right-wing racist. The fact of the matter is that the shooter explicitly denies being a conservative, derides conservatives, and claims to be an eco-fascist. According to him, the country closest to his political thinking is China. That’s hardly the thinking of a right-winger. But again, unless you’ve read his manifesto you wouldn’t know any of this.
6. Social Media Companies Are All Too Happy to Engage in Censorship
The shooter initially livestreamed his first shooting on Facebook. While the video was pulled, numerous other copies were uploaded around the internet, trying to stay one step ahead of the internet censors. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and others crowed over how quickly they were able to censor their platforms and keep copies of the shooting video and the shooter’s manifesto out of the public’s eye. But without the ability to see the shooting and read the manifesto, people are dependent on the mainstream media’s take on things for their information. As we’ve seen, the media are intent on spinning the incident to suit their own aims.
7. New Zealand’s Gun Owners Are Going to Get the Shaft
The blood had hardly dried before New Zealand’s Prime Minister had announced that New Zealand’s gun laws would change. It’s a guarantee that any changes made to New Zealand’s gun laws wouldn’t have prevented this massacre and won’t prevent future shootings. But common sense never stopped gun banners from trying to take people’s guns. Many preppers in the US had viewed New Zealand as a potential place to flee if political conditions in the US ever got too bad, thanks in part to its relatively sensible gun laws. But expect New Zealand now to go full retard in its desire to disarm it citizenry.
8. For All of Our Problems, the US Is Still the Best Place to Live
The reaction from the New Zealand and Australian political establishments highlights that, despite the US’ many faults, it still is the freest country in the world. New Zealand authorities are prosecuting people who shared the shooter’s video, and reminding the citizenry that downloading the video to their computers puts them at risk of a 10-year prison sentence, while sharing the video with others could leave them open to a 14-year sentence. So much for freedom of speech.
Not to be outdone by that level of tyranny, Australia’s Prime Minister responded by asking someone to hold his Foster’s. An Australian politician who blamed the shooting on heightened levels of immigration was egged by a 17-year-old boy and responded by striking the boy. The Prime Minister thinks that the politician, the victim of an assault, should be the one prosecuted.
It’s yet one more example that despite the shared legal tradition that the US has in common with the UK and the Commonwealth, the Commonwealth countries have jettisoned the traditional rights of Englishmen and are plowing full speed ahead into Big Brotherism. They’re demonstrating the path that awaits us in this country unless we take action to counter socialists and collectivists of all stripes.