Islamophobic shooting in Christchurch, NZ

[Meclazine for Israel]

I’ve been a fan of Ardern’s for a while now but I gotta say, she’s really impressed me the way she’s stepped up and dealt with this. Especially considering she’s one of the youngest heads of state in the world and she’s only been in office a year. Must be nice to have a head of state who’s not a raving lunatic sociopath...

My sister loves her too.

She feels.guilt because she received the manifesto before the shooting and did not tell the police. Realistically, nobody could have done anything with it in the time available.

I think she is clearly in a difficult position, and now she can do something about gun control.

This is not the first mass shooting on the South Island of NZ.

"Out of the Blue" (2006) is a stunningly produced film about David Gray, a gun enthusiast who lost the plot in a small town near Dunedin not far from where this new gunman lived.

Wikipedia description:

Out of the Blue

Trailer

https://youtu.be/35M3jSusb-w

Highly recommended in the context of the current topic of gun control. A real heart-ripping film that will bring you to tears.

Up until two days ago, this was NZ's worst gun massacre.

[MichaelRbn]

Sorry to be pedantic, but Arden is head of Government.  The Queen is head of State.

[Frodo]

We need more stories like this:

Pittsburgh Jews Reach Out to Christchurch Muslim Community After Attack on Mosques

[fhtagn]

I think the terrorist probably wanted more guns tbh.

He very specifically stated he chose guns because he wanted to create conflict over gun control.

will be fun to revisit this post when New Zealand near-unanimously passes a set of strict gun control measures some time next week

And I'll still be saying what I'm saying now. Giving into the desires of terrorists is weak. Especially when the issue of guns had nothing to do with this event. The terrorist made it very clear there were other methods he could have used to kill so many people. But it's useful to know that so many people are so simple minded to see it as another "muhhh less guns would fix all of our problems" event instead of what actually caused someone to carry out the act of violence, Jacinda included.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Giving into the desires of terrorists is weak.

Again, the manifesto says nothing one way or the other about making public opinion in New Zealand converge on gun control measures as one of the terrorist's goals. What it does talk a lot about is increasing the salience of gun control as a knee-jerk wedge issue in the US--in other words, exactly what you're contributing to in this thread.

[Devout Centrist]

Fhtagn, do you ever get tired of arguing in bad faith? Serious question.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Fhtagn, do you ever get tired of arguing in bad faith? Serious question.

The irony here is so rich that it just bumped Donald Trump’s place down a notch on the Forbes Richest People list.

[Tender Branson]

Turns out the Christchurch killer has visited my district last year (Krimml Waterfalls) + Salzburg City and Vienna.

He also was in Bavaria and several Eastern European + Balkan countries to visit sites of historic battles against the Ottoman Empire.

https://derstandard.at/2000099768198/Christchurch-Attentaeter-postete-mehrere-Fotos-aus-Oesterreich

[President Johnson]

What a POS:

Limbaugh suggests without evidence that New Zealand attacker is 'a leftist'

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh suggested without evidence on Friday that the attack at two mosques in New Zealand may have been a false flag, sharing "an ongoing theory" that a suspect in the attack "may in fact be a leftist."

"There is an ongoing theory — [producer Bo] Snerdley, correct me if I’m wrong about this — there’s an ongoing theory that the shooter himself may in fact be a leftist who writes the manifesto and then goes out and performs the deed purposely to smear his political enemies, knowing he’s gonna get shot in the process," Limbaugh said on his show. "You can’t immediately discount this."

"The left is this insane. They are this crazy. And if that's exactly what the guy's trying to do then he's hit a home run," the host added before referencing a report on Fox News on a monitor in his studio. "Because right there on Fox News: 'The shooter is an admitted white nationalist who hates immigrants.'"

The Hill: Full Article

[Sestak]

What a POS:

Limbaugh suggests without evidence that New Zealand attacker is 'a leftist'

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh suggested without evidence on Friday that the attack at two mosques in New Zealand may have been a false flag, sharing "an ongoing theory" that a suspect in the attack "may in fact be a leftist."

"There is an ongoing theory — [producer Bo] Snerdley, correct me if I’m wrong about this — there’s an ongoing theory that the shooter himself may in fact be a leftist who writes the manifesto and then goes out and performs the deed purposely to smear his political enemies, knowing he’s gonna get shot in the process," Limbaugh said on his show. "You can’t immediately discount this."

"The left is this insane. They are this crazy. And if that's exactly what the guy's trying to do then he's hit a home run," the host added before referencing a report on Fox News on a monitor in his studio. "Because right there on Fox News: 'The shooter is an admitted white nationalist who hates immigrants.'"

The Hill: Full Article

I mean most of the right wing posters on this thread (dabeav, fhtagn, etc.) seem to be implying this as well. Completely delusional.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I mean, he did explicitly say he was a communist at one point in his life.

[Hammy]

I mean, he did explicitly say he was a communist at one point in his life.

"disillusioned leftist/communist" seems to be a gateway to the far right community--a few people I knew in the past ended up going that same direction, with their twitters becoming filled with antisemitism and regrets of prior leftist views.

[Omega21]

Doesn't matter what he was.

His manifesto is full of contradictions, and as we all know, both the Right and the Left are capable of such things.

Crazy ethno-nationalists sometimes do stuff like this, and crazy Left wing guerillas kidnap and murder alike.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Look, we're all Extremely Online here. We all know exactly what this creature is, even if explaining things to anyone who is not Extremely Online is... difficult.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Look, we're all Extremely Online here. We all know exactly what this creature is, even if explaining things to anyone who is not Extremely Online is... difficult.

Yup...

[Devout Centrist]

I mean, he did explicitly say he was a communist at one point in his life.

Didn't you say you were a Nazi at one point in your life?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I mean, he did explicitly say he was a communist at one point in his life.

Didn't you say you were a Nazi at one point in your life?

No?

[Zinneke]

So you still are one?

[Tender Branson]

Jacinda Ardern has been put onto the Burj Khalifa in Dubai:



Nice.

[Crumpets]

Reuters: Austria's Kurz confirms link between Christchurch attacker and Identitarian Movement

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Reuters: Austria's Kurz confirms link between Christchurch attacker and Identitarian Movement

Looks like the Austrian government will crack down on the now.

[Pericles]

I think the terrorist probably wanted more guns tbh.

He very specifically stated he chose guns because he wanted to create conflict over gun control.

will be fun to revisit this post when New Zealand near-unanimously passes a set of strict gun control measures some time next week

And I'll still be saying what I'm saying now. Giving into the desires of terrorists is weak. Especially when the issue of guns had nothing to do with this event. The terrorist made it very clear there were other methods he could have used to kill so many people. But it's useful to know that so many people are so simple minded to see it as another "muhhh less guns would fix all of our problems" event instead of what actually caused someone to carry out the act of violence, Jacinda included.

Yes he did have IEDs but those didn't go off, the guns significantly worsened the situation and its irresponsible to increase his ability to kill so many people. People realize assault weapons aren't necessary for hunting, many hunters have been handing them in voluntarily and are happy to give up those weapons as it's better for society not to have them. The key reason the US has so many mass shootings (and other gun deaths) than everyone else isn't that Americans are naturally more violent people, its because of the absurd looseness of US gun laws.

[Tender Branson]

Reuters: Austria's Kurz confirms link between Christchurch attacker and Identitarian Movement

Looks like the Austrian government will crack down on the now.

Yes, "link" in terms of a large donation they received + the FPÖ was very quick yesterday to distance themselves from the Identitarian Movement (which they had many contacts with over the past years and which served as a "talent agency" for the party).

Now, the FPÖ says: "we have never had any intercourse with these people" (LOL) and the FPÖ media team only yesterday or so deleted a post from Strache where he praised the Identitarians a few years ago.

Also: it seems Martin Sellner (the IM leader) only became aware of that donation (1.500€ btw) from the serial killer after the attack. Of course, at the time of the donation he thought he was only a guy from Australia/New Zealand, sympathetic to their cause. And because of that donation only (and no other links to him), it will be very difficult for ÖVP+FPÖ to actually dissolve the IM. A donation alone is not a reason enough to dissolve a group like this. They need to engage in serious criminal offenses, which until was not the case.

https://derstandard.at/2000100336603/FPOe-und-Identitaere-Zusammen-auf-Demos-beim-Wirt-und-im

https://derstandard.at/2000100291943/Bundesregierung-prueft-Aufloesung-der-Identitaeren

[Tender Branson]

The NYT has a very informative article about the Christchurch terrorist and the Austrian Identitarians:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/27/world/europe/new-zealand-attack-europe-far-right.html

Tarrant has been to Austria with a rental car last November for a week (coming from Hungary by train), the Interior Ministry confirmed, and travelled a total of 2.000 km in the country (almost 1.500 miles), which is a lot for a small country like Austria ...

He also visited my district.

[Tender Branson]

There has been a heated debate today in the Austrian parliament about connections of Tarrant and the Identitarians here and the connections of the FPÖ to them:



The SPÖ tried hard to connect the FPÖ with the Identitarians and therefore to the terrorist. We will have to wait and see if the FPÖ will drop in the polls as a result of it (like they did early last year after their far-right fraternity scandal).

https://orf.at/stories/3116796