Nexus 24 2015

NEXUS MAGAZINE Lettuce
NEWS101
Rowan Doyle
Lorde Interview
Not Lorde
Having read the recent article on whether or not certain dogs are more or less
dangerous than others and watching Facebook after recent events in Oregon, it is
clear a similar issue is apparent for firearms.
Recently, many people have said something along the lines of “firearms are
dangerous”, however, a firearm is only a piece of metal. A human needs to load
it, cock it, aim it and pull the trigger for it to become dangerous. Yes, firearms are
used in homicides, but some people drive drunk, does this mean nobody should
be allowed to own a car?
Another common misconception that is frequently stated is “if you make guns
illegal, shootings will drop” there are multiple flaws in this statement, for example
methamphetamine is illegal, but regularly used. Criminals do not follow the law,
therefore any changes made to firearms law will only have an affect on law abiding
citizens and criminals will have a monopoly on firearms. this will result in even
more problems. There is also a multitude of information available on how to make
your own firearm from items found at any hardware store (i won’t cite these for
obvious reason’s but you can look it up)
People have also agitated for a limit on magazine capacities, however changing
a magazine takes such little time that anybody carrying multiple magazines can
discharge any given number of rounds with only a thew seconds difference from
a high capacity magazine.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCSySuemiHU)
Assault rifle bans have also been agitated for. The problem with this statement
is that to be classified as an assault rifle, it needs to have select fire capabilities
(semi automatic or fully automatic)(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_rifle).
such firearms are already illegal. the commonly targeted AR15 is a mil-spec semi
automatic, the AR stands for armalite, the company that makes them. Along a
similar vein is the argument to restrict mil-spec firearms as being more dangerous,
however being shot with a 223 sporting rifle or a 223 mil-spec rifle will have the
exact same outcome, regardless of a freestanding pistol grip, a flash suppressor, a
collapsible stocks or bayonet lugs.
People have also stated that New Zealand has never had a mass shooting or a
school shooting and pointed out the large number of homicides that occur in
the USA. Firstly, New Zealand has had 2 mass shooting events, the Stanley Grey
shootings in Hokitika(1941) and the Aramoana massacre(1990). There has also
been a school shooting in Waikino (1923). Although on the surface, the number
of murders in the states may seem high, as a percentage of all reported deaths,
homicides only account for 0.6%. in New Zealand, that number is 0.9%. Access
to firearms is not the problem(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramoana_massacre)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Graham#The_day_of_the_rampage)
(http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10899013)
(http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_us.html)
(http://www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/publications/crime-statsnational-20141231.pdf)
In closing, the shooter in Oregon had no prior criminal record and if he was in New
Zealand, he would have been eligible for a firearms licence. The firearms used at
Aramoana, kowhitirangi, waikino, Hungerford, Port Arthur and Dunblane were all
legally owned by licensed individuals. increasing regulation will not prevent mass
shootings and banning firearms alltogether simply will not work. The only reason
america has significantly more shootings than other parts of the world is because
it is a significantly larger country with a significantly larger population.
Could you please do an interview with Lorde. I feel like she is really coming
of age and at this point in her life I feel like we should know what she’s going
through because the final stages of puberty aren’t easy and I think she
should encourage young women to be comfortable with their newfound
sexuality and frequency of periods. It took me five years to get a monthly
cycle it’s really hard please can Lorde talk about this.
Moment-No!
Vicky Jackson
Thank you momento for removing yet another decadent indecency from
my life. First exams steal my social life, then ‘sober for October’ steals the
inTOXICating goodness of a rowdy Saturday night... and now you go and
make $2 coffees $2.50. I get it, its only 50c extra per coffee, but you know
what it makes me sad because now I cannot seem super generous by
shouting my 5 person study group coffees with the $10 note I have. Momento
you have removed another aspect of goodwill in society. I hope you feel bad!
Library Elevator
White Girl
#whitegirlrantahead but can someone plese fix the Elevator up to the
student centre? My daily fitness routine is already stretched walking up the
stairs to L Block and to management, adding on those stairs up to the library
is just torture. I mean c’mon, as if I needed more excuses not to study in the
library. The inevitability of having a person sit next to you with the loudest
mastication ever is already enough of a deterrent. Plus it is always awkward
when you are walking up the stairs with a classmate and end up puffing like
a chain smoking truck driver between rushed sentences. You already take all
my money UoW please don’t take my dignity as well. But #realtalk what are
we doing for our lesser able students? Are they confined to those terrible
winding ramps that would make someone dizzier than those spinny things
at the park. What if it rains? Shell out the extra couple of G and get it fixed!
Disclaimer Letters published contain the opinion of the writer and
the writer alone. Nexus publications take no responsibility for the
content or opinions so expressed. By submitting your letter you
give consent to its publication in Nexus and subsequent public
scrutiny. Letters are the authors own work and Nexus will not edit
to compensate for lack of intelligence or coherency. Nexus reserves
the right to edit or refuse to publish any letter which breaches any
law, is defamatory to any person, or contains threats of violence or
hate speech. Email your lettuce to lettuce@nexusmag.co.nz
2 N.24 / V.47 SUMMER