NZ's Legal Response to Christchurch Tragedy

I wrote a few weeks ago about the outpouring of love and support that I saw from Kiwis around me after the tragic attack in Christchurch. This has continued, and many people have done amazing work to help in a variety of ways. But it will take a long time to process, let alone recover from such an awful event.

I was, as many people around the world were, shocked to discover that NZ's gun laws did not prevent people from owning the type of weapons that were used in the attack. There is very little gun violence here, and I naively believed that this was partially because there weren't so many or such dangerous guns around. I was stunned to find that there are approximately 1.5 million guns in NZ, and while apparently the majority of these are owned by rural farmers who use them for pest control, it is still a large number. In 2017, there were 30 guns for every 100 people in NZ, which seems so high to me! I learned, to my horror, that in that same year there were 101 guns for every 100 people in the States. For a moment that seemed to mean that I should reframe and think of 30 as not all that many, but I don't want it to be about comparisons, I just don't think we need so many guns! And if we do want to compare, the UK had 4 guns for every 100 people that year, so smaller numbers are achievable.

In the subsequent weeks, I've done a bit of reading about gun laws in NZ, although I have to admit that I haven't done as much as I might have on a different topic, because I find myself getting upset very quickly. To summarize my findings, Kiwis have discussed gun laws over the years when there have been shootings in other countries, including the one in Australia that led the Australian government to tighten its restrictions. NZ, however, has chosen not to do the same. You can read an article about some reasons why, as well as watch a video of one of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's statements after the tragedy by clicking here.

As you can see in the video, the government took its role in the tragedy very seriously, and immediately began taking steps to prevent such a thing from happening again. Within a few weeks, major gun reforms passed almost unanimously (119 to 1 in Parliament). The new laws ban semi-automatics and assault rifles, and limit the size of magazines. I don't know anything about guns, but my understanding is that they tried to balance farmers' ability to use guns for pest control and the safety of getting rid of guns that could do large-scale damage. You can read more about the changes to the laws, the current restrictions, and the government buy-back of newly illegal guns by clicking here or here or here.

I realize it says little about my merits as a well-informed citizen, but I don't want to know any more about guns than I already do. I wish that changes had been made before a tragedy forced us all to wake up and take action, but I'm so thankful that the response has combined empathy with legal action, and that the changes have now been made. I have deep respect and admiration for Jacinda Ardern, and am glad that she is able to lead us through this difficult time. I am glad that many of the more dangerous guns in this country will soon be out of circulation, but I am even more glad that Kiwis as a people were able to decide that that was what needed to happen.

In conclusion, I would like to share this letter that was in the newspaper. It is from the President of the International Muslim association and to New Zealand, and it is truly inspiring.

Kōrero Māori Mai

As you all probably know, I love languages. I find them fascinating on many levels, and continue to delight in the intricacies of the English language and to find my work to maintain my fluency in French satisfying and enjoyable. My main focus at the moment, however, is Māori. I have been studying it, with varying levels of intensity, for about four and a half years, but have struggled to find opportunities to speak it often enough and with fluent enough speakers to get over the hump and start actually speaking it as a language. I could memorize endless phrases and use them in the right context, but that's not the same thing as using language as a real means to communicate my thoughts and experiences to others. As you will know, that is a large part of why I took this new job, as it provides, at long last, a place where I can speak Māori for a significant percentage of the day, every day. I have only been there for about two months, but I am already astounded and thankful at the progress I've made. I was hoping that much of the knowledge I've tried to cram into my head over the years was rattling around in there somewhere waiting for some organization, and I think that must be the case. Now that my brain is more capable of switching into "Māori mode," I'm able to say and understand lots of things that I wouldn't have been able to a few months ago. Of course, my speech is still riddled with grammatical errors and uncomfortably long pauses where I rifle through my memory for the right word, but the point is I'm speaking the language. Whenever I want to say something I've never said before and can put it all together as I go, I feel amazing! And when the other people understand and act on it as if it wasn't a monumental task (which it was for me) but rather an ordinary conversation, that's when I really feel like I can now say, "I speak Māori." Slowly, with errors, but I'm doing it.

The stronger I feel in my ability to speak Māori, the stronger my desire to advocate for it as a national language. I think this is partially because I now feel that I can back myself better in my statements of advocacy, and partially because I'm experiencing the striking difference between knowing some memorized phrases and speaking a language. And I want the latter for the Māori language, here in its own country.

Anyway, I am very excited about the new shirt I got as part of my desire for advocacy. It says, "Kōrero Māori mai" which means "Speak to me in Māori." I find it a simple and powerful message, communicating that if Māori is one of our national languages, we should hear it spoken all over the place, and should be able to strike up a conversation in Māori in all kinds of contexts. I actually met someone at a party the other day and mentioned that I was learning Māori, and he responded in Māori and then we had a delightful conversation, all in Māori. It was incredible, and I want it to happen more and more! Now, I will still be a bit scared when I wear it that a truly fluent person will expect more of me than I can manage, but I will muddle through and celebrate Māori language to the best of my ability and definitely learn something new in the the process.

One of my friends at the Māori Speakers' group I go to on Saturdays gave me this button from the same company, so I've decided to wear it on my other clothes to keep the message going. I've also ordered a bunch to pass out to anyone who wants one, because I think it's a great initiative, and the proceeds go to a local Māori community, so that's lovely as well.

If you're interested in purchasing clothes or buttons, you can go to the website by clicking here.

I am not taking any formal Māori language classes at the moment, as I thought that speaking it at work every day would be exhausting enough. I think that was the right choice for the initial period, and probably for a little while longer still, but soon I'll want to supplement the immersion experience with structured lessons, especially on grammar, as I definitely need some help with that. I'm writing a lot of my documentation about children's learning in Māori and getting it proofread by my colleagues, so that's helping a lot, and I'm studying with some amazing workbooks at home, but I still need more. I'm not sure exactly where/what that will be, but it's going to be great!