New Zealand Ready To Ban Semi-Automatic Guns, Australia (Re)Bans Milo Yiannopoulos

A Christchurch massacre round-up, of sorts

So much is still going on with all the news of the New Zealand mosque shooting that we figured it'd be best to just do a general round-up, rather than hitting each of these things individually.

Good news first.

New Zealand Gets Right On Gun Control, Banning Semi-Automatic Weapons.

Less than 24 hours after the mass shooting that left 49 people dead, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that her country's gun control laws will be tightening up and that they will be banning military-style semi-automatic weapons. The country is following in the footsteps of its neighbor, Australia, which enacted strict gun control after a mass shooting in 1996, leading to a 47% decrease in the years following the ban. They have had no mass shootings since.

New Zealand bans semiautomatic rifles less than 24 hours after the Christchurch mass shooting. Imagine: elected off… https://t.co/27zrZUQCfq

— Shannon Watts (@Shannon Watts) 1552709494.0 

Here in America, we're just gonna keep throwing our hands up into the air "Gosh, why does this HAPPEN?" while still not doing anything about gun control no matter how many mass shootings we have. You know, because the gun nuts need all that innocent blood for watering their tree of liberty or what have you. [ ThinkProgress ]

Australia Bans Milo Yiannopoulis, Again.

While New Zealand is making good decisions on gun control, Australia has once again banned Milo Yiannopoulos over his stupid ass Islamaphobic comments regarding the shooting. Again. They banned him before, it somehow got lifted and he was planning to tour the country this year, but that's not happening now. Good!

On Instagram, Yiannopoulos claimed that people like the New Zealand shooter are not radicalized by conservatives, but rather by liberals and "barbaric, alien religious cultures."

Whatever you think about her, @realcandaceowens had nothing to do with what happened in New Zealand. People aren't radicalized by their own side. They get pushed to the far-Right BY THE LEFT, not by others on the Right.
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Everyone on the Right in public life is constantly rejecting ethnonationalism and violence. I, for instance, have spent my entire career denouncing political violence. Candace has never been especially controversial and has never had many far-Right fans. She gets less popular the further Right you go.
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Likewise, the violence directly inspired by grassroots Right-wing media figures comes from Antifa, not our supporters. Attacks like this happen because the establishment panders to and mollycoddles extremist Leftism and barbaric, alien religious cultures. Not when someone dares to point it out.

Yeah, this is all definitely our fault and not the fault of people who say things like "barbaric, alien religious cultures."

It's very interesting how conservatives just can't take personal responsibility for their own views. It's always our fault! We push them! They're delicate! If everyone just agreed with them on everything and told them they were wonderful and special all the time, they wouldn't have to do things like shoot up mosques!

That is bullshit. I defy any conservative to name one thing they wouldn't be so "far right" on if the left hadn't "pushed them too far." If that's your reason for believing something, you're a weird, spiteful moron and no one should take you or your beliefs seriously. [ NYDailyNews ]

In Which The Right Scrambles Desperately To Pretend The Shooter Was A Secret Leftist...

Just like every other time this kind of thing happens, the Right is going all googoots trying to find a way to claim the shooter was actually a big giant liberal who shot people for liberal reasons. Kellyanne Conway insisted the shooter was actually an eco-terrorist. Rush Limbaugh claims this is all a false flag and that the shooter was only pretending to be a white supremacist in order to make white supremacists look bad.

Via Media Matters :

The idea that there is far more crazed right-wing terrorism in America than there is any other kind is nothing more than a media narrative manufactured out of whole cloth, and it's just waiting for events like this to take place, and this is what happens, folks. I don't know, you probably get up and you see this news story and you just -- in addition to all of the emotion you have over the sheer shock, terror, and horror of it all, then you realize you're going to face a whole day of the politicization of it. You realize you're going to face a whole day of Donald Trump being blamed for it, or you being blamed for it, or things you believe in being blamed for it.[...]

Another thing that happens here when these events happen, you have all kinds of speculation that erupts. And there is an ongoing theory -- Mr. 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 going to get shot in the process.You know you just can't -- you can't immediately discount this. The left is this insane, they are this crazy. And then if that's exactly what the guy is trying to do then he's hit a home run, because right there on Fox News: "Shooter is an admitted white nationalist who hates immigrants."

Sure, because it is, after all, really hard to make white supremacists look bad. [ Media Matters ]

Tucker Carlson, for his part, said that the real thing we all need to fear is not crazy ass white supremacists going on shooting sprees, but those who would seek to prevent crazy ass white supremacists going on shooting sprees by taking away their guns . Of course! He then claimed it was "absurd" for those on the left to suggest that Conservatives like himself were at all to blame for the massacre. You know, even though white supremacists themselves have repeatedly named Carlson and all his scaremongering about diversity as an influence and a force for radicalization. [ Daily Beast ]

Teenager Cracks Egg On Asshole Australian Senator's Face. Good For Him!

Following the shooting yesterday, conservative Australian Senator Fraser Anning thought it would be a swell idea to go on Twitter and ask "Does anyone still dispute the link between Muslim immigration and violence?" Which is a lot like saying "Does anyone still dispute the link between women existing and rape?" The shooter's violence was not the fault of Muslims immigrating to Australia, it was the fault of the psychopath who decided to murder a bunch of Muslims.

Anyway, his comments did not go over well. During a press conference, he ended up getting an egg cracked on his face by a 17-year-old boy, whom he promptly punched in the face.

Fraser Anning is the most vile person on earth. After his racist comments about Muslims in his press release ano… https: //t.co/enxS4kcIpt

— Frederick Joseph (@Frederick Joseph) 1552738244.0 

#EggBoy, as he is being called, may have been arrested, but he is also being hailed as a hero across the internet. #WORTHIT [ ITV ]

Also Worth Your Interest...

Looking back at #Christchurch it’s worth noting how cutting funds to the DHS “Countering Violent Extremism” program… https: //t.co/hPNs4JT5To

— Andrew Feinberg (@Andrew Feinberg) 1552739151.0 

The man accused of the New Zealand mosque massacres smirked and made a “white power” gesture when he appeared in co… https: //t.co/MAYFS1lPTA

— Anna Fifield (@Anna Fifield) 1552689706.0 

And just a reminder: in 2017 Trump cut funds to fight white supremacist violence https://t.co/UWU8aBG3vn

— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa Milano) 1552671280.0 

As things develop, I may drop a few more things in here! Keep an eye out!