The New York lawmaker condemned the fatal attack on Twitter, focusing her message on the American gun group.

“At 1st I thought of saying, ‘Imagine being told your house of faith isn’t safe anymore.’ But I couldn’t say ‘imagine,’” the lawmaker wrote, citing the deadly shootings at a Charleston, S.C., church, a Pittsburgh synagogue and a Sutherland Springs, Texas, church.

“What good are your thoughts & prayers when they don’t even keep the pews safe?” She added.

Ocasio-Cortez noted that “thoughts and prayers” is a reference to the NRA phrase she says is “used to deflect conversation away from policy change during tragedies.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez@AOC

At 1st I thought of saying, “Imagine being told your house of faith isn’t safe anymore.”

But I couldn’t say “imagine.”

Because of Charleston.
Pittsburgh.
Sutherland Springs.

What good are your thoughts & prayers when they don’t even keep the pews safe?

---

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez@AOC

(“Thoughts and prayers” is reference to the NRA’s phrase used to deflect conversation away from policy change during tragedies. Not directed to PM Ardern, who I greatly admire.)

---

The progressive congresswoman called on communities to “come together, fight for each other & stand up for neighbors.”

“Isolation, dehumanizing stereotypes, hysterical conspiracy theories & hatred ultimately lead to the anarchy of violence,” she wrote on Twitter. “We cannot stand for it.”

Ocasio-Cortez added that she greatly admires New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. 

Ardern called the shootings “one of New Zealand’s darkest days,” according to The Associated Press, adding that it was “an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence.”

“It is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack,” Ardern said.

The prime minister raised the national security threat to the second-highest level following the shootings.

Authorities have charged one person and detained three others in the attack. They also defused explosive devices after the gunman published live footage of the shooting and published a “manifesto” calling immigrants “invaders.”

---

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/434190-ocasio-cortez-calls-out-nra-after-new-zealand-shootings-what-good-are-your

[Disclaimer]

The post Ocasio-Cortez hits NRA after New Zealand shooting: ‘What good are your thoughts and prayers?’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

(CNN) New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Saturday morning that “our gun laws will change” following the mass shooting at two Christchurch mosques that left 49 people dead.

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 that attack, the nation’s gun laws — which were first passed in 1983 — came under scrutiny. The ensuing debate led to a 1992 amendment on the regulation of military-style semi-automatic firearms.

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.

Facebook, YouTube and Twitter struggle to deal with New Zealand shooting video

That said, gun-inflicted fatalities remain relatively low in New Zealand. The number of gun homicides per year in the decade up to 2015 was in the dozens, according to figures compiled by the University of Sydney. This equated to an annual rate of about one death per 100,000 people — in contrast to the United States, which had 12 deaths per 100,000 people in 2017.

Potential gun owners in New Zealand must be over the age of 16 and pass a police background check, according to GunPolicy.org and its founder Professor Philip Alpers.

According to Alpers, New Zealand firearm legislation has remained substantially unaltered since 1992. Five years later retired High Court judge Thomas Thorp’s year-long Review of Firearms Control in New Zealand (1997) recommended major changes, among them that all firearms be individually registered; that restricted weapons like privately held machine guns be permanently disabled; and for a buy-back of military-style semi-automatic weapons.

Alpers, who is based at the University of Sydney but originally from New Zealand, told CNN: “Not one of these measures has been addressed by legislation. Government has since considered a range of similar recommendations, but special interest groups prevent meaningful change.”

In 79 countries surveyed by the United Nations, firearm registration is the accepted norm and a cornerstone of gun control, according to GunPolicy.org. Among developed nations, New Zealand’s decision not to register 96% of civilian firearms makes it a stand-out exception, alone with the United States and Canada, Alpers said.

Weapons legislation in Australia

Gun laws in Australia were tightened following a 1996 mass shooting in which 35 people were killed by a lone gunman in Port Arthur, Tasmania. Within two weeks, Australian lawmakers banned rapid-fire rifles and shotguns and introduced tighter laws governing ownership of other weapons. New applicants must undergo thorough background checks and present a “justifiable reason” for ownership — with self defense not applicable.

Bangladesh cricket team ‘extremely lucky’ to avoid New Zealand mosque shootings

The laws have had a dramatic effect on the frequency of mass shootings, as well as homicides. In the years after the Port Arthur massacre, the risk of dying by gunshot in Australia fell by more than 50% — and stayed there.

A 2012 study by Andrew Leigh of Australian National University and Christine Neill of Wilfrid Laurier University also found the two nationwide, federally funded gun buybacks and voluntary surrenders of firearms led to a drop in firearm suicide rates of almost 80% in the following decade.

Using those measures, Australia collected and destroyed more than a million firearms, perhaps a third of the national stock, according to Alpers. The national government also banned the importation of new automatic and semiautomatic weapons. And the buyback was paid for by a special one-off tax on all Australians.

The gun lobby is “small but very strong,” in New Zealand, according to Alpers. He told CNN: “They are very vocal and have managed to foil every attempt to tighten the gun laws since 1992. It’s a powerful little lobby group, whereas the gun lobby in Australia had its back broken by the Port Arthur massacre.

“In New Zealand the gun lobby has gone from strength to strength and has dominated policy advice to the police and government.”

That said, Alpers believes things will now have to change. He told CNN: “It’s always a terrible surprise when this sort of thing happens. You can never predict where it’s going to happen. The most common comment you get from people when this sort of thing happens is that they never thought it could happen here and that’s how the people of Christchurch must be feeling.”

Despite the relatively lax controls, “guns are rarely used in the way they are in the US so to New Zealanders this will be a tremendous shock,” said Alpers. He added: “It has shocked the country to the core and I can’t imagine any country less likely to let this slide.”

New Zealand police support carrying guns

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 Association 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 — fewer than the number of people who died in Friday’s double mosque attack.

Iain Overton, author of “Gun Baby Gun” and executive director of London-based charity Action on Armed Violence, told CNN: “The gun laws of New Zealand are not that contentious and fit into broad line with many other nations, with one exception — the reported permission to use, albeit with a special permit, pistols, semi-automatic weapons and machine guns.

“Many European nations outlaw semi-automatic weapons full stop, and the UK — for example — bans handguns, except under exceptional and rare circumstances. The possible, more concerning issue is the ubiquity of firearm ownership in New Zealand — with as many as 1.5 million guns there.

“People may cite that as many as one in three New Zealanders will be gun owners based on this, but this would be wrong. Gun owners often have multiple weapons, so it is likely that it is a smaller group of rural gun owners holding the most guns there. The presence of so many guns, though, in a small nation raises challenges when it comes to over-burdening a police force with regulation.”

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Source: https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/15/asia/new-zealand-gun-control-intl/index.html

[Disclaimer]

The post New Zealand Prime Minister says, ‘Our gun laws will change’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Reddit has banned r/watchpeopledie, an infamous subreddit that hosted videos of people dying gruesomely. The ban comes after the subreddit re-hosted videos of the recent mosque massacres in New Zealand. According to the new landing page, the subreddit was banned for violating Reddit’s content policy about glorifying or encouraging violence.

A Reddit spokesperson provided this statement: “We are very clear in our site terms of service that posting content that incites or glorifies violence will get users and communities banned from Reddit. Subreddits that fail to adhere to those site-wide rules will be banned.”

A source at the company agreed with that assessment, confirming that when communities encourage posting either the shooter’s manifesto or the video, they will be banned. The site’s approach is more contextual; it depends on the conversation around the offensive material. The manifesto and video of the shooting in particular have been banned from Reddit entirely, and are being removed across the site. However, r/watchpeopledie’s ban had to do with their handling of both materials. “These communities are not abiding by those rules and are in fact tipping over to the glorification of violence or celebrating violence,” the source said. “That is when the ban hammer comes down.”

The new ban falls in line with Reddit’s recent change to its content policy, which made the site’s moderation guidelines much more explicit. It used to be that just about everything that wasn’t illegal was allowed on the site, and now, that’s not the case. Even so, the subreddit had been active since 2012, and it had been quarantined — Reddit’s way of describing communities that are explicitly hidden from the public — before the site’s content policy had changed.

• 17 March

  Facebook says that it removed 1.5 million videos of the New Zealand mass shooting

  By Andrew Liptak@AndrewLiptak

  Another 1.2 million were ‘blocked at upload’

• March 16

  Valve takes down user tributes memorializing the New Zealand shooting suspect

  By Andrew Liptak@AndrewLiptak

  More than 100 profiles utilized the name or picture of the alleged shooter 

• March 16

  Sky New Zealand yanks Sky Australia after Christchurch footage sparks outrage

  By Sean Hollister@StarFire2258

  “We stand in support of our fellow New Zealanders”

• March 15

  Questions about policing online hate are much bigger than Facebook and YouTube

  By Adi Robertson@thedextriarchy

  Small sites pose complicated questions about stopping hate

• March 15

  How to turn off autoplay videos on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and more

  By Cameron Faulkner@camfaulkner

  Turn off this annoying and potentially harmful feature

• March 15

  Reddit bans r/watchpeopledie in the wake of the New Zealand mosque massacres

  By Bijan Stephen

  The subreddit violated site policy on ‘glorifying violence’ 

• March 15

  Why can’t YouTube automatically catch re-uploads of disturbing footage?

  By Julia Alexander

  It’s not just a matter of flagging and deleting

• March 15

  The mass shooting in New Zealand was designed to spread on social media

  By Elizabeth Lopatto@mslopatto

  Killing in the age of SEO

  ---

  Source: https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/15/18267645/reddit-watchpeopledie-ban-new-zealand-mosque-massacre-christchurch

  [Disclaimer]

The post Reddit bans r/watchpeopledie in the wake of the New Zealand mosque massacres first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

One person has been charged in connection with a “well-planned” terrorist attack that killed 49 people and injured dozens more in two mosques in New Zealand on Friday, authorities said.

The New Zealand police said four people — three men and one woman — were in custody in connection with the attack. Investigators later defused a number of improvised explosive devices that were found inside vehicles. Prime Minister Jacinda Arden described the suspects as one principal, two associates and one person not directly connected to the attacks. She said the suspects were not on any security watch lists.

“These are people who I would describe as having extremist views, that have absolutely no place in New Zealand.” Arden said.

Thirty people were killed at the Masjid Al Noor mosque in central Christchurch and seven were slain inside the Linwood Masjid Mosque. Another three died outside the Linwood mosque.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed that one of the detainees was a 28-year-old white Australian-born citizen. He described the suspect as “an extremist, right-wing, violent terrorist.”

The suspects were apprehended by local police following Friday’s attack, Mike Bush, New Zealand’s police commissioner, told reporters at a news conference. No motive for the attack has been determined.

Investigators did not rule out that more gunmen could be involved, he said.

NEW ZEALAND GUNMAN APPEARS TO HAVE LIVESTREAMED MASSACRE

Police were also working to remove an unconfirmed video that circulated online showing the Australian suspect entering a mosque and firing multiple shots at people inside. He claimed responsibility for the shooting and reportedly published a 74-page anti-immigrant manifesto prior to the killings. He wrote that he traveled to the island nation to train and commit the attack.

In one video frame, the suspect is seen driving to the mosque with what appeared to be several semi-automatic weapons inside his vehicle.

Officers responded to a shooting at the Masjid Al Noor in Christchurch on Friday afternoon and also responded to a second shooting at the nearby Linwood Masjid mosque.

#WATCH This is the latest statement on the Christchurch shooting by Police Commissioner Mike Bush.

Authorities were not sure if any other locations were under threat and urged worshipers to refrain from visiting any mosque in the country, Bush said. A brief lockdown of Christchurch schools was lifted Friday evening.

AOC DRAWS IRE RIPPING ‘YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS’ AFTER CHRISTCHURCH MOSQUE SHOOTINGS

Ardern said Friday’s events represented “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.”

Witnesses said the Masjid Al Noor mosque was full for Friday afternoon prayers when the shooting occurred. Len Peneha told the Associated Press that he saw a man dressed in black enter the mosque and then heard dozens of gunshots. That was followed by terrified mosque-goers running from the terror. A suspect was seen outside, fleeing after dropping what appeared to be a semi-automatic weapon, witnesses said.

A man reacts as he speaks on a mobile phone outside a mosque in central Christchurch, New Zealand, Friday, March 15, 2019. A witness says many people have been killed in a mass shooting at a mosque in the New Zealand city of Christchurch.(AP Photo/Mark Baker)

“I saw dead people everywhere,” one nearby resident said.

Another witness told TVNZ he saw three women shot and bleeding outside the mosque. A third witness said a suspect fired more than 50 shots, Stuff.co.NZ reported.

“He had a big gun and a lot of bullets and he came through and started shooting, like, everyone in the mosque, like, everywhere, and they have to smash the door and the glass from the window and from the small door to try and get out,” he said.

WITNESSES SAY MANY DEAD, INJURED IN SHOOTING AT NEW ZEALAND MOSQUE

Retno Marsudi, Indonesia’s foreign minister, said six Indonesians were inside the Al Noor Mosque when the shooting occurred and three escaped.

“We are looking for three other Indonesian citizens,” Marsudi said.

Members of the Bangladesh cricket team said they narrowly escaped the shooting at the Masjid Al Noor mosque. Players and coaching staff were reportedly getting off a bus when the shooting broke out. Tamim Iqbal, a batsman on the team, tweeted: “Entire team got saved from active shooters. Frightening experience and please keep us in your prayers.”

Tamim Iqbal Khan@TamimOfficial28

Entire team got saved from active shooters!!! Frightening experience and please keep us in your prayers

Mario Villavarayen, a strength and conditioning coach with the team, told New Zealand media the players did not see the suspect but heard shots. He said the group was shaken but unhurt.

“I spoke to one of them shortly after,” Vllavarayen said. They didn’t see anything but heard gunshots. They were at the ground and just started running. The coaching staff were all at the hotel.”

The team reportedly fled the scene on foot to Hagley Oval where it was scheduled to play New Zealand on Saturday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Source:  https://www.foxnews.com/world/multiple-fatalities-at-new-zealand-mosque-shooting-police

[Disclaimer]

The post 49 killed and more than 20 seriously injured in New Zealand mass shooting targeting mosques first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.