Shoot First, Police Arrive Later

"Zhuofeng 'Titan' Jiang, a Tokoroa takeaway owner who shot a masked gunman in the leg after wrestling a semi-automatic .22 rifle off him could end up being charged for defending himself.
Aotea Chinese Takeaways owner Zhuofeng "Titan" Jiang, 25, grabbed the rifle as the gunman pointed it at Mr Jiang's 19-year-old cousin and demanded money from the till about 9.45pm on Monday.
The gunman had already fired a warning shot into the floor. Another shot went off as the men wrestled with the rifle.
When Mr Jiang got hold of the rifle he fired two shots, one into the floor, and another into the man's leg, to stop him from being attacked.
The gunman screamed in pain after being shot and fled.
Mr Jiang said yesterday that he was not a hero. "I was not scared. I would do it again. I hate these people. I will never give them any money." - Dom Post 29/4/09

Titan is a sterling example of an independent and free-thinking citizen. A "fat man, 6ft tall, wearing dark-coloured clothing." points a semi-auto Sterling 20 rifle at his kid cousin, and he responds with decisive skill, disarming the low-life and putting him out of action. However this comment from the Detective Senior Sergeant Todd Pearce of the NZ Police is alarming,

"This situation could easily have resulted in a fatality and it could have easily been one of victims that had been shot or killed... Fighting back, when firearms are involved, dramatically increases the dangers to everyone present and should not be considered or attempted." - NZ Herald 28/4/09

To heck with that. If you find yourself in a situation like Titan, it is up to you to weigh up the situation and determine whether or not you have a decent chance of overpowering the attacker. As a citizen, you have the freedom to defend yourself and the other innocent people caught up in an assault. It is an incredibly dangerous mindset to fall into, that we put our trust in the police (the state) to save us whenever we are under threat of physical harm.
Anyway, the police apparently took 18 minutes to turn up on the scene - by which time the incident was over and the attacker had run away. In most assault cases, all the police can really do is to turn up with the body-bags. I am in no way dissing the Police-force; they do a great job, but they are not omnipresent.

Feeling Lucky?

...well, do ya punk? Not if you know that every other teacher at the school is carrying a gun and knows how to use it.

Charl van Wyk at WND.com presents the option of arming school-teachers,

By the time a 17-year-old gunman had finished his wild shooting spree at a school near Stuttgart, Germany, this week, at least nine young pupils and three teachers lay dead. Only after fleeing the scene, with the police in hot pursuit, and a final shootout with authorities, was the attacker finally killed
Could an armed teacher have made a difference? Of course. Surely a teacher with a gun in the hand would have been better than a cop on the phone. The incident proves what has long been known: The only person who can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun – nobody else will be of much help

Related posts:
Call to ban GTA4 in NZ
33 murdered students, elephant, video games
25 years murder-free in 'Gun Town USA'

To Heck with Tasers

...arm all New Zealand policemen with guns.

46-year-old Sergeant Don Wilkinson and his 44-year-old colleague ran for their lives down the road being chased by two men. What has New Zealand come to, when the symbol of justice; the police-force is chased down the road, helpless and un-armed. As they ran, they radioed for assistance. Sadly, they were too late, and the men caught up with them and trapped them. Don was shot in the heart and died instantly. His fellow police-officer was assaulted and received multiple gun-shot-wounds. He is currently in Middlemore Hospital recieving surgery.

Click here for the Herald's coverage of this tragic story.

Murdered: unarmed Police Sergeant, Don Wilkinson

What are they going to tell Don's family? "Sorry kids... your dad worked hard to defend innocent people and apprehend and arrest criminals. He died because (embarassed cough)... well, he should have been wearing his bullet-proof vest..." And what is going to happen to the two men that have been arrested and charged with the murder of Don and the assault (attempted murder) of his colleague?

For even daring to shoot at a police officer, they should receive a life sentence of hard labour. For killing a police officer, they should be hung.

But what will happen? A typically soft sentence will be handed down - a slap over the wrist with a wet bus-ticket for the murderer. And then let him out on bail after he's completed part of his sentence, because "prison's aren't the answer", and they're over-crowded anyway.

Timeless Cinematic Moments 11

"Dodge this."
(at 1:41:08)

Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) comes to the aid of Neo (Keanu Reeves) in the Matrix (1999).  This cult film also enlists the acting talent of Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving who you'll remember as Elrond from Lord of the Rings.  I think each time you watch this movie you notice something new, or understand a concept that you didn't quite grasp the last time you watched it.  I recommend this film, the first in the trilogy - but don't bother with the Matrix Reloaded or Matrix Revolutions.  Click here for the infamous Lobby Scene on Youtube.

Use a Real Gun Next Time

On Monday 4 August, two apparently drugged up young (Polynesian) men wearing blue bandanas over their faces ran into the dairy on the corner of Orrick Crescent and Wainoni Road in Christchurch.  One was wielding a long knife, and the store-owner Nike said that the offenders were frantic, and life-threatening.  Below is the order of events

A dairy owner who wishes only to be known as Nike said he armed himself after Indian liquor store owner Navtej Singh was murdered by robbers in South Auckland in June.  Two robbers who he described as Polynesian, aged in their early 20s or late teens charged into his store on Wainoni Road about 8.30pm on Monday.  They were wearing blue bandanas over their faces, and one carried a long knife. Nike was cleaning out his cash register when a man ran at him and slashed at the air near his throat and chest, then backed him up against a cigarette rack. Nike's wife handed him the air pistol. Nike fired the air pistol at the robbers five or six times, hitting one of them. "I definitely shot one of them in the face. "Usually in the movies they say 'give me the money' but they tried to kill us from the very start. It happened really fast. They ran in holding the knife out and started trying to chop me."

Nike said he suspected the men were on drugs as "normal people don't act like that". "We would never have used (the gun) if they weren't so threatening. "They were frantic."

Detective Constable Grant, of the New Brighton police, said Nike's actions were "certainly not good practice". Grant said they were "discussing" whether Nike's actions would have further repercussions.

Asian Anti-crime Group campaigner Peter Low said the robbers were lucky it was only an air pistol and if they came into his store he would shoot them with a real gun. "The scum gangs have got to learn and the police need to wake up. They have invaded our rights. We have to defend ourselves. It's logic, it's common sense."

Compiled from the article on www.stuff.co.nz.

As is so often the case the emphasis is put on the victims of the assault, and we hear that the Police will be investigating (clears throat loudly) excuse me, who?  Yes, believe it or not, they are going to launch an investigation into the actions of the brave dairy owner, who defended the lives of himself and his wife.

When it is illegal for good law-abiding citizens to defend themselves, it means that the criminals often get their way.  Think back on the Virginia-Tech Massacre for a minute.  It was illegal for anyone on campus to be armed, and so when the murderer ran about the place with a gun, killing 33 people, there was no one able to stop him.

Bob McCoskrie of Family First responded to the incident,

"The safety of families should be paramount. If families are resorting to vigilante type actions, it begs the question – why aren’t we doing more to protect them?"

Use a real gun next time mate.

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Hat-tip, NZ Conservative

Related Reading: 25 years murder-free in 'Gun Town USA', Folly of "Gun-Free Zones"

Kneejerk Expected from Double Homicide

Police were called to Harold Holt Ave, Napier at 12.25am after residents reported hearing gunshots. A woman was found dead on the footpath with gunshot wounds. A man was found nearby, still alive, but with similar injuries. The man was rushed to hospital, but died soon after being admitted.  Detective Senior Sergeant Tony Dewhirst said that it was too early  to say if anyone else was involved, and police were not currently looking for anyone else in connection with the shooting.
(Report compiled from Stuff, Newstalk ZB and TVNZ)

This sounds too much like a double homicide.  A man and a women who both died from bullet wounds, and found lying on the sidewalk by Police in the early hours of the morning.  :( It's hard to comprehend, two people coughing out their last breaths, lying on the cold hard tarceal outside their home while, about 700km south, I was blithely going about my life here in Christchurch.

The inevitable knee-jerk reaction will come, a public outcry followed up by proposals of further tightening of our gun-laws.  Instead of focussing on the crime of the murderer, the Government is likely to look into passing some new legislation which will punish everyone else in New Zealand who didn't commit the murder.  It's quite simple, find the low-life who did this, and hang him.

Google News will keep you updated on this tragic case.

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Update (3/8/08):
- Case may be homicide/suicide - NZ Herald
- Police have identified the victims as 61 year old Stephen Webby and 39 year old Annette Pollock. - Newstalk ZB

Zimbabweans Resort to Bartering

The situation in Zimbabwe is deteriorating rapidly. I can't understand why everyone seems to have a lot to say about it, but nothing is being done, and the citizens of that country are just trying to make it til tomorrow. Below is an article that Lyd forwarded to me,

"I popped out for a Z$25,000 loaf of bread last Friday. It had gone up to Z$30,000 dollars. I ran home for the extra, ran back to the shop - and the price of my loaf had risen to Z$44,000. That's life in Zimbabwe today - or at least it was, until this week when our government took bold and decisive action to reduce the inflatory spiral, and predictably everything got even worse straight away. Perhaps alarmed by the forecasts of doom issuing from the lips of American ambassadors and others, the government decided that the simplest way to cut prices was to... well, cut prices. An order went out to all manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers to slash their prices by half. Any who showed the slightest reluctance to do so were visited by the Green Bombers - young graduates from the Zanu-PF terror camps whose economic arguments are enforced with a smack on the head with a stout stick. Those shops that obeyed the edict and reduced their prices were invaded by fervent shoppers, and the result was chaos, with many businesses threatening to close their doors for the rest of the week at least, if not for good. And the end result? Where it worked best, where prices were cut by a genuine 50 per cent, the government succeeded in reducing the cost of living to almost exactly what it was 10 days ago..."

Make sure to read the rest of the article here at www.thefirstpost.co.uk

The UN should go in and burn Robert Mugabe's playhouse down.

Stallone goes Rambo

"Rambo reeks of depraved violence" says Australian Newspaper The Age. Rambo [lashes] out at society rather than handling difficult situations in a "civilized" manner. - Wikipedia. “Rambo” is, for most of its fairly brief running time, a blood bath punctuated by occasional bouts of clumsy dialogue. There are beheadings, mutilations, disembowelings — enough gore to rival Apocalypto - reports the NY Times.

I watched Rambo down at Hoyts Riccarton tonight. I had been looking forward to it, and in preperation, had watched the first three films a couple of weeks beforehand. Nothing in those films could have prepared me for the fourth installment of the cult series. Unfortunately, many people will go to this film purely to get the adrenaline rush from seeing so much carnage. However, if you can deal with the fact that what is portrayed in the movie is pretty darn accurate, then perhaps you can take this movie out of the "depraved violence" category. Unlike movies such as Kill Bill, where the violence is "cinematically beautiful" and stylized, Rambo features many variations of bloody violence without slipping into the category of unbelievable and imaginary.

Without a doubt, Stallone (who directed the movie) has gone overboard with the violence in his latest movie. While everything you see in the movie could have and has happened in real life, it is not necessary to show so much of it, or in so much detail.

Some observers say Rambo is one of the most violent movies ever. To that, Stallone has but one response: "Not one of the most. The most. I worked very hard for this." ..."This [movie] has to walk the thin line," Stallone said. "It really does. It was almost an experiment on how far you can push entertainment, but also stay true to the bloodshed that's going down as we speak." - Plugged in Online Movie Reviews

John Rambo's attitude towards the fighting is that he would prefer just to be left alone. But if there is injustice, then he will make the perpetrators wish they had never been born.

The score is really nice, especially at the beginning of the film, where for the first ten minutes or so, the scene is peaceful and serene.

I haven't often witnessed the whole theatre erupting in applause at the end of a film, or the core of young guys dressed up as Rambo, yelling and clapping at various points throughout it.

Conclusion: I wouldn't recomend this film to anyone, though neither would I disuade any mature person from seeing it. The R18 rating is there for a reason. Foul language and unveiled violence are two definite downsides to the film.

don't do party pills

Stephen Bellingham was high on party pills on the night of Friday, 28 September 2007. He grabbed a hammer and went off down the street in Christchurch smashing up cars. Concerned neighbours rang the police who arrived on the scene. Confronting the crazed maniac with a pistol, the police officer told Stephen to drop his hammer. The drugged up criminal ran at the police officer with the hammer raised over his head. When Stephen was within a meter of him, the police officer stopped him in his tracks with a bullet to the chest and another to the leg.

If the police officer had had a tazer gun, then Stephen would not have died, and neither would the police officer. However if the police officer had only had a baton, then he would have likely been badly wounded or even killed. "Oh, the police officer should have retreated" you hear the bleeding hearts whine. Well as my friend Andrew so consisely put it, "It's not a good thing when a police-officer retreats, how does that look?". He's dead right. The principle of it is that we citizens should obey the law. If we don't, if we choose to run at a police officer holding a loaded weapon, then we suffer the consequences and rightly so.

The media are having a field day, making out that the police-officer and the police force are heartless thugs who use excessive force and abuse their power. As a matter of fact, when it is a matter of life or death as the police-officer obviously observed that it was in this case, the life of the police-officer is worth infinitely more. He has a wife and children who he is supporting, and why should he sacrifice his life just so that some drugged up punk can see what it feels like to stove another man's head in with an axe. I am sad that Stephen has died, however it was his own fault and as a country we should learn from this: give the Police the authority and tools they need to do their job well, and citizens, just do what the police tell you ok.


Stephen Bellingham

Below are 3 Letters to the Editor from The Press, 3 October 2007.

Lisa is a bit hard line, however in some situations it is necessary to stop criminal activity by some level of force, however wherever possible, fatalities should be avoided...

I suggest that all police weapons be withdrawn and that police be given feather dusters with which to defend themselves.
Police dogs should be fitted with sponge rubber teeth, and, to prevent any future dangerous high-speed vehicle pursuits, all Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore cars should be withdrawn from service and the police supplied with pedal cars.
There would then be no further claims of police brutality. We could all feel safe, couldn't we?

S. Kerr, Christchurch
There is something wrong with this country when the police have to justify their actions against the rubbish on the street.
No wonder we have an astronomical crime rate and drug problem, when the police are made to look like the villains and the criminal a victim.
As a law-abiding citizen with a young child, I want to feel safe and know that the police are protecting me and my family - that is, taking out the criminals in any way they have to. If shooting them is the only way to bring them down, so be it.
What kind of country is this going to be when my child grows up? The criminals will be running the country at this rate.
If somebody was smashing my car with a hammer, I would shoot him.
Keep up the good work, New Zealand police.

Lisa Leary, Christchurch
If Stephen Bellingham had been Tasered, he would still be alive today - deservedly shocked but still alive.
If blame must be apportioned in this case, perhaps we should start with the Green Party and the rest of the civil liberties bandwagon who opposed the use of Tasers for incidents such as this one.
We expect the police to protect us from an increasingly feral underclass, but what do we do to provide them with the tools they need to carry out their thankless task?
David Jones, Christchurch

The moral of the story would have to be: don't do party pills.

Heh, while I'm on the subject, ban party pills! Yeah, go crazy you libertarians. But it is generally accepted that such things as methanphetamine and murder are illegal, and so should party pills.