BBC: Active Shooter in Christchurch NZ

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BBC reports an active shooter situation at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47578798

Gunshots have been heard near the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, local media report, as police warn of a "critical incident".
Witnesses told local media there were several casualties inside the building. Police have warned people to avoid the area.
Christchurch hospital and all of the city's schools have been placed on lockdown.
Eyewitnesses have reported running for their lives to escape a shooter.
Mohan Ibrahim told the New Zealand Herald: "At first we thought it was an electric shock but then all these people started running.
"I still have friends inside.
"I have been calling my friends but there are many I haven't heard from. I am scared for my friends lives."
The Al Noor mosque is located in central Christchurch along Dean Avenue, facing Hagley Park.
Witnesses have reported seeing bodies, but this has not been confirmed by police or officials.
There are reports that a second mosque in the suburb of Linwood has also been evacuated.
A spokeswoman said Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) has activated its mass casualty plan, according to New Zealand news site Stuff.nz.
The plan includes clearing emergency room space for casualties. The spokeswoman did not comment on how many patients were expected.
Police have cleared Cathedral Square, where thousands of children were holding a rally for action on climate change.
Police Commissioner Mike Bush said: "A serious and evolving situation is occurring in Christchurch with an active shooter.
"Police are responding with its full capability to manage the situation, but the risk environment remains extremely high.
"Police recommend that residents across Christchurch remain off the streets and indoors until further notice. Christchurch schools will be locked down until further notice.
"Police thanks the public for their cooperation and will provide further updates to keep residents informed."
A reporter following the Bangladesh cricket team, who are currently in New Zealand, tweeted that the team had "escaped from a mosque near Hagley Park where there were active shooters".
Player Tamim Iqbal tweeted that the "entire team got saved from active shooters".

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Re: BBC: Active Shooter in Christchurch NZ

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Gun laws in New Zealand
Guns are not currently a major political issue, but have been restricted immediately after the Aramoana massacrein 1990, the Scottish Dunblane and Australian Port Arthur massacres in 1996.
Gun laws in New Zealand focus mainly on vetting firearm owners, rather than registering firearms or banning certain types of firearms.
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Re: BBC: Active Shooter in Christchurch NZ

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The NZ authorities have confirmed that the shooter was born in Australia, and was a HUGE supporter of the violent, racist attacks here in the US, attacks we've seen that are tacitly encouraged by the traitor in the White House, who, just yesterday, spoke in code words yet again, threatening those who oppose him with violence.

New Zealand would be justified in recalling its ambassador, and asking (which really is a demand) for the US ambassador to be recalled, if Ill Douche bothered to name one.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: BBC: Active Shooter in Christchurch NZ

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New Zealand police commissioner Mike Bush said the death toll in the two mosque attacks has increased to 49. The vast majority, 41 people, were killed in the attack on the Deans Avenue mosque shooting, Bush said. According to the police, one man has already been charged with murder in the wake of the terrorist attacks.
Until Friday, the biggest massacre in the country’s history happened 30 years ago, when a man named David Gray went on a shooting rampage, killing 13 people. Following the attack, the nation’s gun laws -- which were first passed in 1983 -- came under scrutiny. The ensuing debate led to a 1993 amendment on the regulation of military-style semi-automatic firearms. The country’s gun laws are still considered to be relatively relaxed compared to non-US nations -- gun owners do need a license but they aren’t required to register their guns.

While authorities do not know exactly how many legally or illegally owned firearms are currently in circulation in New Zealand, estimates put the number at about 1.2 million, according to New Zealand Police. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, if a person wants to buy a gun, they must be over the age of 16 and pass a police background check.

New Zealand police officers are not routinely armed, but recent figures suggest more officers are in favor of carrying guns. A 2017 survey from the New Zealand Police Associated showed that that 66% of its members support arming officers, according to TVNZ. That figure has significantly increased from a decade ago when 48% of officers supported general arming in 2008. New Zealand also has a low murder rate, with a total of 35 homicides in 2017 -- less than the number of people who died in Friday's double mosque attack.
Here's what we know so far:

-Beginning at about 1.40 p.m. local time, armed gunmen attacked two mosques in Christchurch, killing dozens of people.

-Police quickly locked down the city in response, including schools and government buildings. Within hours, police said four people were taken into custody -- three men and one woman.

-In a social media post just before the attack, an account that is believed to belong to one of the attackers posted a link to an 87-page manifesto that was filled with anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim ideas and explanations for an attack.

-According to [Prime Minister Jacinda] Ardern, bombs were found attached to the attackers' cars. They have since been disarmed by New Zealand's armed forces.

-One of the attacks appears to have been livestreamed on social media. The graphic video has since been removed and police are requesting that people refrain from sharing it.

-Little is known about the attackers so far. At least one has been confirmed as an Australian citizen, while witnesses said one of the attackers was white and wearing a uniform. Ardern confirmed the attackers were not on security watch lists.

-The lockdown on Christchurch schools has now been lifted and children are back with their parents.
https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/new- ... index.html

Tragic, same number of fatalities as the Pulse Orlando shooting.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: BBC: Active Shooter in Christchurch NZ

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Not where I was born but my hometown. Shit fuck. My brother lives there during the US winter so is there now. Not worried about him as he’s not Muslim. I am worried that my teenage niece is likely to know at least family of the victims. Horrible.
'Sorry stupid people but there are some definite disadvantages to being stupid."

-John Cleese

Re: BBC: Active Shooter in Christchurch NZ

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Wasn't sure if you were from Christchurch Mason, hope family and friends are all safe.
The main suspect
Brenton Tarrant identified himself in the video live-streamed on Facebook. Social media accounts in that name were used to post a lengthy, racist document in which the author identified the mosques that were later attacked and set out anti-immigrant motivations for the attack. Although New Zealand police said they had charged a man in his late twenties with murder, they did not identify the man.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47578798

Pictures
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/ ... n-pictures
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: BBC: Active Shooter in Christchurch NZ

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Mason wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 8:02 am Not where I was born but my hometown. Shit fuck. My brother lives there during the US winter so is there now. Not worried about him as he’s not Muslim. I am worried that my teenage niece is likely to know at least family of the victims. Horrible.
And so it reaches all around the world to touch us all. I've never fully figured it out--is that 2 degrees of separation, one degree for you, Mason?

It fills me with sadness and rage that 74 years after we crushed the nazis and fascists, they are creating terror around the world, as if THEY are superior to the rest of us.

It's the thinking of the arsonist, who, with his match and gasoline, thinks himself greater than the builders of the house he burns down.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: BBC: Active Shooter in Christchurch NZ

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K9s wrote: Thu Mar 14, 2019 11:11 pm I am sure the President will denounce this act of terrorism shortly... Waiting...
Hope you're not holding your breath.

FDT
"Being Republican is more than a difference of opinion - it's a character flaw." "COVID can fix STUPID!"
The greatest, most aggrieved mistake EVER made in USA was electing DJT as POTUS.

Re: BBC: Active Shooter in Christchurch NZ

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Some people have already brought up NZ firearms laws. From The NY Times:
Murders are rare in New Zealand, and gun homicides even rarer. There were 35 murders countrywide in 2017. And since 2007, gun homicides have been in the single digits each year except 2009, when there were 11.

But there are plenty of guns.

There were 1.2 million registered firearms in the country of 4.6 million people in 2017, according to the Small Arms Survey, a Swiss nonprofit.

New Zealand law allows any person aged 16 or older with an entry-level firearm license to keep any number of common rifles and shotguns, according to GunPolicy.org, a project hosted by the University of Sydney. Most guns can be purchased without being tracked by law enforcement officials.

“New Zealand is almost alone with the United States in not registering 96 percent of its firearms, and those are its most common firearms, the ones most used in crimes,” said Philip Alpers of GunPolicy.org. “There are huge gaps in New Zealand law even if some of its laws are strong.”

It remains unclear what weapons were used in the Christchurch attack, or how and where they were acquired.

A mass shooting in Aramoana, New Zealand, in 1990 — when a man killed 13 people, including two 6-year-olds, after a dispute with his neighbor — led directly to tightened gun laws, including restrictions on “military-style semiautomatic weapons.”

Mr. Alpers said that semiautomatic weapons, for instance, require a special license, and can be bought only one at a time.

He also predicted new restrictions in the aftermath of the terrorist attack. “I can’t think of a country that’s more likely to change its gun laws after something like this,” he said.
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Re: BBC: Active Shooter in Christchurch NZ

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The Australian-born suspect who shot dead dozens of Muslim worshippers in Christchurch, New Zealand, has published a manifesto citing US President Donald Trump and Anders Breivik, the Norwegian white supremacist who murdered 77 people in Norway in 2011.

The 74-page dossier by Brenton Tarrant, which has been described by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison as a "work of hate", praised Trump as "a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose".

----- Trump didn't personally condemn it, but....

The White House also conveyed its condolences in a statement from President Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “The United States strongly condemns the attack in Christchurch,” she said. “We stand in solidarity with the people of New Zealand and their government against this vicious act of hate.”
It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Re: BBC: Active Shooter in Christchurch NZ

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HuckleberryFun wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 9:35 am Some people have already brought up NZ firearms laws. From The NY Times:
He also predicted new restrictions in the aftermath of the terrorist attack. “I can’t think of a country that’s more likely to change its gun laws after something like this,” he said.
The GunPolicy.org rep is most likely correct. Two of the three previous massacres that prompted New Zealand to change its laws were not even in New Zealand.

Given the "gun laws in New Zealand focus mainly on vetting firearm owners, rather than registering firearms or banning certain types of firearms" yet did not prevent this attack, those inclined to prohibit are going to take this out on the country's gun owners in a big way.

Maybe these orgs will have insight into what is going to happen there:
Sporting Shooters Association of New Zealand
https://www.facebook.com/Sporting-Shoot ... 573588729/

Council of Licensed Firearms Owners
https://www.nranz.com/home/useful-links/

Re: BBC: Active Shooter in Christchurch NZ

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The total population in NZ is currently 4.7 million souls.

The death toll relative to the population is similar to the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

Typical social graphing estimates indicate that terror attacks have the most impact on one if someone you know, knows someone killed. (2nd degree separation). It is also usually modeled with the average person really "knowing" roughly 200 UNIQUE other people (that is, the requirement for 1st degree acquaintance requires some repetitive interactions and some recency - not the number of people in one's High School for example.)

SO, using the usual social graph metrics of 200 x 200 = 40,000 people in your 2nd degree grouping, there is a 1:29 chance that any person in New Zealand knew someone who was actually killed. Given the social siloing of religous groups, the chances that any random Muslim in NZ knew someone killed is far higher.

This terror attack is a BFD to New Zealand. And that is how terrorism works: don't just kill people, kill them in a way that gets international news and further divides people. It works.

For those who sometime conflate the social graphing model (widely used by companies such as Facebook and other social networks) with "6 Degrees of Separation" models: The latter is modeled on intimate acquaintances (defined as very close friends or daily interaction) which models the number of "45" unique relationships based on some long lost research paper. And of course 45^6 is roughly the world's population.

Using the latter model (6 degrees factoring), everyone in New Zealand is within 3 degrees of the entire population.

I am a numbers person, not a social theorist or sociologist, so forgive me for reducing a horrible act to ratios. Obama got a lot of sh*t when he did this after San Bernardino. But, if we study terrorism like epidemiology, the "impact" numbers do tell part of the story.
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Re: BBC: Active Shooter in Christchurch NZ

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harriss wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:25 am What came first? The race thinking and racism or the Trump? Obviously, race thinking and racism came first. Trump is just the current messenger.

Just a rethinking of the chicken or the egg conundrum.
I think Trump is a symptom of a disease that was already there. A festering malignancy that finally exposed itself with a massive, pustulent tumor.
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"Person, woman, man, camera, TV."

Re: BBC: Active Shooter in Christchurch NZ

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max129 wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:26 am The total population in NZ is currently 4.7 million souls.

The death toll relative to the population is similar to the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

Typical social graphing estimates indicate that terror attacks have the most impact on one if someone you know, knows someone killed. (2nd degree separation). It is also usually modeled with the average person really "knowing" roughly 200 UNIQUE other people (that is, the requirement for 1st degree acquaintance requires some repetitive interactions and some recency - not the number of people in one's High School for example.)

SO, using the usual social graph metrics of 200 x 200 = 40,000 people in your 2nd degree grouping, there is a 1:29 chance that any person in New Zealand knew someone who was actually killed. Given the social siloing of religous groups, the chances that any random Muslim in NZ knew someone killed is far higher.

This terror attack is a BFD to New Zealand. And that is how terrorism works: don't just kill people, kill them in a way that gets international news and further divides people. It works.

For those who sometime conflate the social graphing model (widely used by companies such as Facebook and other social networks) with "6 Degrees of Separation" models: The latter is modeled on intimate acquaintances (defined as very close friends or daily interaction) which models the number of "45" unique relationships based on some long lost research paper. And of course 45^6 is roughly the world's population.

Using the latter model (6 degrees factoring), everyone in New Zealand is within 3 degrees of the entire population.

I am a numbers person, not a social theorist or sociologist, so forgive me for reducing a horrible act to ratios. Obama got a lot of sh*t when he did this after San Bernardino. But, if we study terrorism like epidemiology, the "impact" numbers do tell part of the story.
I have never seen this line of reasoning before...very interesting.
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"Person, woman, man, camera, TV."

Re: BBC: Active Shooter in Christchurch NZ

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Christchurch massacre highlights lax New Zealand gun control laws
(CNN)The Christchurch massacre, which has left at least 49 people dead, has highlighted flaws in New Zealand's gun control laws.
Despite those laws, New Zealand's weapons legislation is considered more relaxed than most Western countries outside of the USA. Gun owners do need a license but they aren't required to register their guns -- unlike in neighboring Australia.
While authorities do not know exactly how many legally or illegally owned firearms are currently in circulation in New Zealand, estimates put the number at about 1.2 million, according to New Zealand Police. This figure equates to about one gun for every three people -- a rate that is considered high when compared with Australia, which has 3.15 million guns, approximately one for every eight people.

Re: BBC: Active Shooter in Christchurch NZ

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senorgrand wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:28 am
harriss wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:25 am What came first? The race thinking and racism or the Trump? Obviously, race thinking and racism came first. Trump is just the current messenger.

Just a rethinking of the chicken or the egg conundrum.
I think Trump is a symptom of a disease that was already there. A festering malignancy that finally exposed itself with a massive, pustulent tumor.
Trump is absolutely a symptom. Being the president of the United States, he does also, unfortunately, provide a twisted source of legitimacy for these hateful lunatics.

This shit breaks my heart.

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