>>You're not obliged to respond - and I see why you will not. It's clear beyond any doubt that Russia meddled with the election. Trump has called it a hoax. You do not want to admit any of this because you've tried to say otherwise. In other words -- you'd have to admit you're wrong. Enough said.

LOL. Seems to me there's broad consensus that Russkies try to interfere in other nations. As does the US. And the French. South Pacific nations claim that Australia and NZ do it, though there's a lot more Chinese influence now. Go back further and you'll find reference to Comey's rationalization that Putin hated Clinton because she tried to interfere in his election. Further again and I posted a 007 clip confirming the meme of Russian interference back to the 1960s.

It's not news and if the US or you want to suddenly make something of it, as KG was hinting you can expect to be told that people in glasshouses shouldn't throw stones.

>>After the Las vegas mass shooting where the guy used bump stocks there was an attempt to pass a law regarding those. Guess what -- thanks to NRA and the paid off politicians - no dice.

Some people are so determined to posture as the good guys that they invent imaginary boogey men to decry. This is a good example. In real life it was the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that determined in a series of findings in the 2000s that bump-stock devices have no automatic function, so are not regulated by federal law. For clarity, this was long before Trump's tenure. Then after the recent shooting, in real life the NRA called for this ruling to be reviewed and Sessions said "possessing firearm parts that are used exclusively in converting a weapon into a machine gun is illegal, except for certain limited circumstances. Today we begin the process of determining whether or not bump stocks are covered by this prohibition."

What I'm seeing under the Trump administration is that NRA and government are acting responsibly to remedy poor decisions under prior administrations. You may hate Trump, but his needling may well actually start some common sense on this topic- unlike previous administrations where rousing speeches was as far as it got. Instead of instantly demonizing current efforts and inventing culprits, why not encourage when you see people doing the right thing? Or do you have a monopoly on doing the right thing?

JR>If you're tempted to retort that NZ is different from US- then perhaps figuring out that difference may be worth at least some energy if you want to fix the problem,, not the blame.
VA>>Well they are different. At the end of the day here, the problem is the guns.

That's circular. They're different so they're different and that proves your explanation. Er, no. Something else to consider: in 5 OECD nations the police aren't routinely armed. NZ is one of them. How does that work? If you don't like the "good guy with a weapon" response then you need to start reviewing other precedent asap.

>>I would have to agree with that. the problem is the guns -- and not just the AR15 type guns either. Semi-automatic hand guns and clips that hold a zillion bullets is ..in my eyes anyway ...are. more dangerous than a riffle for the very reason you said -- it is easily concealed. And we do not need 'open carry' laws or laws that let any dipsh_it carry a concealed weapon just because he wants too. There are a lot of changes that need to take place. If they ever get around to happening they won't happen all at once - but geeze we HAVE to start somewhere - and saying 'now is not the time' or that 'what we need is a good guy with a gun' doesn't cut it.

Unless people are only concerned about kids with pale skins being killed by firearms, you need to start with handguns. If you don't, then as Sammie points out it's just a "this makes us feel better because we're DOING something" response not based on facts or logic. It'll fail and become an albatross around the neck every time some future politician tries to do the right thing.