Kiwi riflemen fleeing totalitarian gun control regime in New Zealand to be welcomed in WNY

March 21, 2019 | BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Associated Press reports that, just one week after attacks on two mosques in New Zealand killed 50 worshipers, the country has banned sales of what it calls “military-style” semi-automatic weapons and what it deems “high-capacity” magazines.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that “every semi-automatic weapon used in the terrorist attack last Friday will be banned.”

Ardern said a sales ban was effective immediately to prevent stockpiling and would be followed by a complete ban on the weapons after new laws are rushed through. The ban includes any “military-style” semi-automatic guns or shotguns that are capable of being used with a detachable magazine that holds more than five rounds. It also extends to accessories, such as bump stocks, used to convert guns into what the government called “military-style” weapons.

“It’s clear that New Zealand’s progressive overlords have made the unfortunate decision to take a page out of Imperial Criminal Andrew Cuomo’s playbook in response to the terrorist attacks experienced on Friday,” 2AWNY.COM Civil Rights Advocate Steve Felano said. “Like the far-left autocrats presiding over New York State from the imperial palace in Albany, Prime Minister Ardern has decided to engage in the intellectually devoid practice of imposing mass liberty reduction on an entire population of citizens in order to allow a select group of progressives to engage in personal emotional therapy in the wake of a traumatic event. There is zero causative data to support the theory that so-called ‘assault weapon’ and ‘high capacity magazine’ bans have any meaningful impact on the reduction of mass killer events. Furthermore, the perpetrator of the New Zealand mosque attacks specifically stated he chose firearms as the method to carry out his carnage not because they were his priority implements of choice, but because he knew that employing them would sow further social division within New Zealand, the United States, and beyond. Unfortunately, in moving forward with this sweeping attack on the gun rights of those who had absolutely nothing to do with the mosque attack in New Zealand, Ardern and her progressive colleagues are compliantly carrying out the wishes of the racist terrorist they claim to abhor. Finally, because my New Zealand colleagues who lawfully own AR-15s have been afforded zero constitutional protection of their natural gun rights, I heartily encourage them to immigrate, lawfully-owned firearms and all, to Western New York where the fight to sustain and expand gun rights is red-hot, and where the local population will respect and defend the gun rights they have been denied in their homeland.”

In the wake of an event like the New Zealand mosque attacks, there are generally two approaches available for government to take in response – acknowledge that the event is an outgrowth of the societal decay caused by progressivism and take steps to eradicate that ideology, or force the mass liberty reduction of law-abiding gun owners to create the illusion of state-manufactured safety for the general population in total. The former is a difficult undertaking that creates real and highly positive results over the long-term, and the latter is a short-term emotional opiate creating the illusion that progress has been made when, in reality, no truly effective steps have been taken to address the core of the mass killer issue.

Correctly anticipating that New Zealand’s government apparatus would select the easy and politically expedient option of mass liberty reduction in response to last week’s attacks, 2AWNY took proactive steps to launch its ‘New Zealand AR-15 Owner Resettlement Initiative,’ which has encompassed the following:

• Concerted outreach to New Zealand gun rights groups to encourage their members to begin the immigration process to Western New York.

• Defining and promoting the concept of ‘natural gun rights asylum’ for New Zealand gun owners, which clearly articulates the following:
  • Private civilian gun ownership is a proven and effective check against government tyranny.
  • It is a clear fact that, within the 20^th and 21^st centuries alone, governments across the globe have perpetuated instances of genocide and mass murder against their own citizens (democide) resulting in hundreds of millions of human deaths. Furthermore, acts of democide are playing out in real time before our very eyes in Venezuela, where New Zealand-style restrictions banning certain classes of guns are what have backed Venezuelan citizens into the defenseless corner they now find themselves while starring down the barrel of government tyranny. Finally, the aforementioned democide, perpetuated by governments that began as democracies like that of Venezuela, clearly illustrates that elections, institutions, and procedures alone are insufficient to safeguard a society from the state-sponsored mass murder of its own citizens.
  • It is a clear fact that the individual loss of life experienced as a result of overall rare mass killer events is significantly dwarfed by the collective loss of life directly resulting from democide, as referenced above.
  • Given the prior two points made above, and because government has demonstrated a clear propensity to trend tyrannical over time and kill its citizens en masse, the societal benefits of private firearms ownership far outweigh the individual costs.
  • The progressive government of New Zealand has chosen to ignore the clear facts outlined above and deny the natural gun rights due to its citizens, thus leaving them defenseless against government tyranny that poses a clear and present danger to the life and liberty of all citizens of New Zealand.
  • Given all of the above, persecuted New Zealand gun owners are entitled to claim natural gun rights asylum at any U.S. port of entry, and 2AWNY hopes kiwi gun owners will select those ports of entry closest to Western New York.

• Development of an immigration attorney referral network to assist persecuted kiwi gun owners in beginning and completing the process of immigrating to Western New York.

• Creation of a Federal Firearms License (FFL) dealer consortium to assist kiwi gun owners in transferring their firearms to their new home in Western New York in a manner compliant with International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and other applicable requirements. Failing this, said dealer consortium should assist persecuted kiwi gun owners in procuring new legal firearms sourced from Western New York dealers upon arrival in the U.S.

2AWNY’s New Zealand AR-15 Owner Resettlement Initiative creates numerous benefits for both Western New Yorkers and persecuted kiwi gun owners. Following is just a sample of said benefits:

• This is an initiative that should draw all New Yorkers together in these hyperpartisan times. Progressive democrats, in favor of open borders and extending ‘rights’ they have invented, like education access and driver licenses to undocumented immigrants, should have no qualms about likewise allowing persecuted kiwi gun owners to waltz across the U.S. border into WNY with their rifles in hand so they can enjoy a right (the Second Amendment) that actually appears in the black ink of U.S. Constitution (unlike education access, the ability to drive a vehicle, abortion, and more). Conversely, New York republicans should feel comfortable standing down on their demand that President Trump’s massive debt-ballooning wall be built given that persecuted kiwi gun owners will be entering the country in droves, and will be primed to vote for conservative candidates and causes because progressive democrats insist upon voting rights for the undocumented. Everybody wins.

• The influx of persecuted kiwi gun owners into WNY will act as a means of balancing out the massive outmigration trend damaging New York State year after year. The hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers fleeing the state are doing so in response to Imperial Criminal Andrew Cuomo’s years of progressive missteps that have made the state completely unattractive to families and businesses. In this manner, 2AWNY’s New Zealand AR-15 Owner Resettlement Initiative will assist in correcting a major population drain problem for which Imperial Criminal Cuomo bears sole responsibility. Perhaps the uptick in tax receipts from kiwis immigrating to WNY will close the significant state budget gap created by the irresponsible spending habits of far-left progressives in Albany (not the scaling back of SALT deductions).

• This initiative will result in more gun owners and more AR-15s in WNY, both of which are a good thing because the more of each we have in the state, the weaker the SAFE Act and the overall New York gun control regime become. The immigration of kiwi gun owners will also bolster the already growing culture of non-compliance and non-enforcement of unconstitutional gun control edicts in Western New York, and will cancel out the influence of left-leaning urban and suburban progressives who support and vote to expand the state’s imperial gun control edicts.

“I have every confidence that thousands of persecuted kiwi gun owners will understand the promise of 2AWNY’s New Zealand AR-15 Owner Resettlement Initiative and take advantage of the immigration assistance we’re offering,” 2AWNY’s Steve Felano said. “It’s time for WNY to push back even harder against the imperial gun control edicts coming out of Albany, and welcoming persecuted kiwis to the area who understand, through hard personal experience, the societal value of natural gun rights will assist us greatly in doing that. Just as progressive leftists seek to import voters from other nations to solve an imbalance they perceive at the polls, the WNY gun rights community is more than pleased to show that we truly are the region of good neighbors, and welcome kiwi gun owners to the area to solve a cultural imbalance on the issue of gun rights support seen across New York State. If you value the human rights of all our global citizens, then you’re obligated to support 2AWNY’S New Zealand AR-15 Owner Resettlement Initiative. Human rights matter. Gun rights are human rights. KIWI GUN RIGHTS MATTER.”

Military-style semi-automatics have been defined under New Zealand law as rifles with magazines exceeding a seven-round capacity, or with pistol grips, folding or telescopic stocks, bayonet attachments, or flash suppressors at the end of the barrel.

Many different types of firearms, from pistols to rifles and shotguns, operate in a semi-automatic fashion. Semi-automatic refers to a type of widespread mechanical operation, upon which virtually all modern defensive firearms are built, that provides for the chambering of a fresh round in a firearm from an ammunition magazine by leveraging the kinetic force generated by the prior round fired. Semi-automatic function allows one round to be fired upon each trigger press.

To learn more about any of the above, please contact Steve Felano at (518) 852-1863 or [email protected].

– 30 –

2AWNY is a force multiplier for the numerous Second Amendment civil rights advocacy enterprises forming the backbone of Western New York’s vibrant gun culture. We act as a 2A news and information distribution, policy analysis, and organizational driver for the many interest groups seeking to defend and expand Second Amendment civil rights throughout the region. 2AWNY is dedicated to assisting in the organization, promotion, and funding of legal challenges to the unconstitutional New York State gun control regime. We seek to make Western New York the epicenter of New York State’s Second Amendment civil rights renaissance. Learn more at WWW.2AWNY.COM.