Have New Zealand's gun control laws changed since the events in this film?
I must say that during the course of the film I was hoping that someone would have some means of defending themselves against Gray.
It would have been good if whilst the macho-hero-cop was agonising over pulling the trigger, that little old lady had just crawled up through the Bushes and taken care of Gray.
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No f-----g s--t lady, do I sound like I'm ordering a pizza??
I think they restricted the possession of military style semi-automatics.
My Orange Got Stuck in a door-hingeshare
I'd hope so...
My 12 year old step son watched this movie with me. Although I wasn't too "keen" on the idea of letting him watch it, it was interesting to see his thoughts throughout the movie. He kept asking how this guy could get a hold of such a weapon, all that ammunition, etc... I told him that this was beyond his life time ago, that New Zealand's gun laws were more leniant than the U.S.'s are now. The U.S.'s were probably much more leniant then, and N.Z.'s are probably much more stricter now. It's hard to believe the sadness portrayed in this movie when this guy just plain ol' decided to kill a bunch of people...
Unfortunately what seems to be forgotten is that the guns are not to blame, but the man himself. I am a law abiding citizen. I shoot quite regularly whenever I get the chance...but just b/c I like guns, doesn't mean I'm going to go on a shooting rampage. I didn't watch the movie, but I assume he is using a weapon such as the AR-15 or other semi-automatic version of a military weapon. So here begins the gun training folks. Semi-auto means, that with every pull of the trigger, one round comes out. 99% of the LEGAL weapons owned, at least in the US are of this variety. If you want a full auto, pull the trigger and rounds come out until the trigger is let go, there's a trail of hoops and taxes you have to pay, longer than you'd imagine, so most don't try. Now, that being said, here in the US we have the Bill of Rights, that grants us the RIGHT to keep and bear arms. This was set up so that the government could not rule the people in a dictatorial way...not that we'd ever do anything about it anyway. It is unfortunate what happened, and I'll probably watch the movie this week, but the law abiding citizen should not be punished, and to ban a weapon b/c it "looks" like a military weapon is stupidity. Perhaps we should look at the REAL causes of these heinous acts, the person and their morals. If these officers were as helpless as they sound, the guy could have done all that damage with a sword...you can't always rely on law enforcement to protect you, as is the case a lot. Just last week an elderly lady with Alzheimers, let 3 men into her sons house, after they told her they were cold, the son woke to 2 of them in his bedroom, at which point he retrieved his pistol and shot them, they were arrested a short time later. Now this brings me to my last point. Gun control advocates say that banning guns will decrease crime, however in the US crime increases in those areas, b/c the citizens are the only ones unarmed. Criminals don't obey the law to begin with, why would they obey a gun ban? You are only hurting the law abiding citizen, and since police officers can't be everywhere, there are no other way for defense.
shareIt's hard to believe the sadness portrayed in this movie when this guy just plain ol' decided to kill a bunch of people.
As I understand it, some people in Aramoana partially blame themselves for what happened. After all, David Gray wasn't some crazy stranger who wandered into town with a gun. He was a long-time resident of the community and a former friend of some of the people he killed. The feeling seems to be that if his neighbours had done more to help him before his mental state deteriorated to that point, then the whole mess could have been avoided.
Strikes me as a better solution than "arm everyone else so they can shoot back".
I just got finished watching this movie. I agree with your statement. If just ONE of those people had had a gun, it'd have been over much sooner, with a lot less lose of life. However, several points make me chuckle. First, the one post about his "arsenal". Yea, there was a AK-47, AR-15 and a few others, the highest caliber there was the 7.62 AK. Point one, it was full auto, which in most places is hard if not impossible to get, so either it was added for effect, or the system over there that allowed him to get that gun was horrible, though he clearly showed obvious signs of mental problems, so there's your first clue. Secondly, around half way through the movie, and about 5 minutes into the whole thing, one of the cops has a clear and very easy shot on Gray...yet he doesn't take it... And thirdly, the cops weren't all that woefully unprepared. They had bolt action rifles, which while not full auto, have the same stopping power as the AK, most bolt actions fire a .308 (7.62mm) and are actually way more accurate. I'd rather have that then a full auto. They should have had one guy stay back and pick him off while he was moving to different cover locations....but then again, they failed to shoot him when they had a clear shot too...twice. Sad story though....needless deaths caused by a mentally unstable man.
shareYea it was an 'out of the blue' situation that not even I would expect would happen in such a small country. Sadly it did and it has been stained in New Zealands history. Now when you stated "one of the cops has a clear and very easy shot on Gray...yet he doesn't take it.." clearly a sign of shock that his fellow officer had been shot dead so he his judgement was clouded by that event (Irrational decisions). Also he had most likely not come across a situation like this before so he wasn't prepared to kill, You would think that would be a little strange for an officer not having the adequate training needed. However note that it had happend in a rural area which was farily far from a urban city. Like I said before, I would have never have ever thought that a country like this would ever have a horrific event such as this random massacre. Rural officers would definatly not be prepared for it especially when it happened in the years that crime was at a low. Oh yes I do agree with you that Guns dont kill people, people kill people. Guns just make it faster and easier to kill. Just depending on the person behind the gun which may I note that most gun related deaths are from Illegally obtained guns.
My Orange Got Stuck in a door-hingeshare
AFAIK he used an AK47 and gun laws were changed.
However Aramoana was in a rural/small community so I would think the assumption that people didn't have guns is incorrect. Many of them would have. However they would have been in locked cabinets etc. Also, many of the people would have been surprised by David Gray's attack and may not have actually had access to the gun anyway.
Considering that after the police narrowed down his whereabouts, I don't think a civilian having a gun would make a difference as it took many police officers (and guns) to actually "take him down".
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