I saw in the comments of Miguel’s post that there were reports of a good guy with a gun at the second Mosque shooting.
I did some searching and found this report from the New Zealand Herald.
Christchurch mosque massacre: 49 confirmed dead in shootings; four arrested – three men, one woman
A second shooting happened at a mosque in the Linwood area of the city.
One Friday prayer goer returned fire with a rifle or shotgun.
Witnesses said they heard multiple gunshots around 1.45pm.
A well known Muslim local chased the shooters and fired two shots at them as they sped off.
He was heard telling police officers he was firing in “self defence”.
“They were in a silver Subaru,” he told police.
A review of the New Zealand Police Arms Manual shows that gun possession, especially for a handgun (that said, I don’t know what type of firearm the the local used) is limited to the home where the licensee is registered, a shooting club, or for a long gun, for a legitimate use such as hunting.
You can’t just drive around with a rifle in the trunk of your car because you have a gun license.
Also, there is this from the New Zealand Police.
“Everyone is justified in using, in the defence of himself or another, such force as, in the circumstances as he believes them to be, it is reasonable to use.” (Section 48 of the Crimes Act 1961.)
This means you are allowed to defend yourself from attack, but use your common sense. The idea is to defend yourself, not to cause injury or get revenge. If you use unreasonable force, you are committing a crime.
Your first concern should always be for your own safety and that of others with you. Never take the law into your own hands or take unnecessary risks.
New Zealand, like many European countries, bans possession of every type of non-lethal self defense weapon, e.g. stun guns and pepper spray.
It is also made clear that self defense is not a legitimate reason for a gun license.
Being a commonwealth state, its laws are heavily shaped by British law and we all know how the British stand on self defense.
So a well known local shooting at two gunmen as the gunmen run away might very well not be self defense in New Zealand.
What kind of gun he had and why did he have it at the Mosque might also be very serious questions for him to answer.
The internet can “good guy with a gun” all it wants, but I have a feeling he is going to be asked a lot of uncomfortable questions about his gun by the New Zealand police.
Interesting contradictions there. You’re allowed to use such force as you believe to be reasonable in defense of self or others. That clearly permits lethal force in response to threatened murder or the like — basically the same rule as is the law in civilized places like New Hampshire.
Yet on the other hand you’re not allowed to get a license for the tool that the law of justified self defense says you’re allowed to use in self defense? Bizarre.
Perhaps the approach is that you need a different excuse for the license, like target shooting — but once you have it, you can then use the gun for any legal purpose including self defense. That’s a bit like the NH concealed carry license application form, which asked for the purpose you wanted it for, but then stated you could use the issued license for any lawful purpose, not just the one you stated.
He’s a culturally enriching part of the Diversity, they’ll give him a slap on the wrist fine at best.
I can’t find it now, but earlier the Daily Mail reported that the “good guy with a gun” didn’t have his own gun, but rather he wrestled it away from the shooter. He never actually shot back because, and I quote, “he couldn’t find the trigger.”
But still, this one probably followed the same formula that ALL mass shootings follow
1. A guy who shouldn’t have a gun (Right? How would a foreigner in the country a few weeks be able to legally buy firearms?) [edit–according to the NZ PM he’d been there two years and got a permit in NOV 2017]
2. Goes to a place where no one is allowed to have guns (Do they have carry permits in NZ?
3. Starts killing people
4. Until the very moment he is met with armed resistance (in this case by having a rifle taken from him)
Universally, these people are cowards who are playing real life in God Mode. When the cheat wears off, they quit.