[kall]

Originally Posted by newstalkzb

Police say allegations Maori activist Tame Iti brandished a firearm at a Waitangi Tribunal hearing are being investigated.

Opposition parties have called for the Police Minister to ensure Mr Iti is arrested, following claims he was filmed waving a shotgun in front of tribunal members in Ruatoki.

Bay of Plenty District Commander, Superintendent Gary Smith, says a compliant has been laid.

He says the public can be assured appropriate action is being taken.

Superintendent Smith says once all the facts are assembled a decision will be made.

What do you reckon?

[Sparklechick]

He brandished a firearm around a group of people and actually fired it!

Anyone else would have been arrested immediately. He then lifted up his skirt and gave a big bare browneye to everyone ... indecent exposure I say.

He should go to jail. Why make this guy an exception?

[Penny]

The dude should be banished to the middle of the Australian dessert with some Aboriginal tribe. He is just toruble with a capital T.

come on people its only a peice of fabric he just wants to stir, i think jail is abit too much a fine maybe.

[nih]

If this was Amerikka they would have rappelled in 14 guys with rocketlaunchers to annihilate him. And then called it a sober response to fanatical terrorism.

[Penny]

Originally Posted by powley

come on people its only a peice of fabric he just wants to stir, i think jail is abit too much a fine maybe.

I don't quite agree, I believe that he is always doing stupid stuff like this. To wave a gun around at a Waitangi Tribunal hearing is threatning behaviour, it wouldn't be expected in a district or any other court, why at a tribunal hearing. To actually fire it is worse, it doesn't matter so much what he shot (although shooting or damaging a flag is considered world wide as a disrespectful thing to do) but that that behaviour is unacceptable.

[nih]

It's called desecration of the flag.

I don't care too much about adolescent behaviour, but I do care about noisy little social activists who want stomping on. I don't need my home country becoming a battleground for whiney pillocks with nothing better to do. This asshole isn't tough, just mentally ill.

[kall]

"But discharging firearms is a Tuhoi tradition".

Right. You live by your Tuhoi laws and fuck off if you expect any protection or rights that are guaranteed to NZ citizens by *its* laws.

[Penny]

and while he's out there living in his traditions, perhaps he should give up his firearm, house, and any other technologies etc that the white man brought. Without that he'd still be running round in a grass skirt somewhere.

[Bluey and Aquila]

Ive been having this same debate over there < -------

I dont give a shit about the flag or what he is protesting, but you go out on your front lawn and start yelling and screaming to bring your neighbours out, load a shotgun in front of them and fire it at the ground, then the AOS should have been called and he should have been arrested then and there.

Im sick of it being one law for some and another law for others.

[kall]

Update:

Iti was charged with Discharging a Firearm and Desecrating the Flag...his bail conditions included that he must stay within the Whakatane district.

He has recently told 3 News that he sucessfully applied to the court for this to be removed, so he could travel to Waitangi.

Northland residents, be on the lookout for a highly tattooed maori male with a shotgun. He has recently discharged this firearm in public, so should be considered dangerous.

[nih]

Some farmer will gun him down. Out in rural NZ a maori wandering around means stolen farm gear - maori with a gun means he wants to shoot your beasts. There are almost no exceptiosn to this rule.

lol..thats true.

He wouldnt get very far in the far north for sure.

[Lina]

Not with my Dad around.... doesn't tolerate that kind of idiot

[Teelo]

Shooting the flag is not really that important.

He should be jailed for weilding a damn gun in public.

[Lina]

I don't think the majority of us care WHY, exactly....just that he IS.

[nih]

That's right. 90% of disapproving conservatives would like the other 10% jailed for not conforming to these well-heeled, law-abiding statistics.

[kall]

Time to bump this one back up.

Mr Iti is having his day in Court.

Yesterday, he refused to speak in English, choosing to speak in Maori. Fair enough.

Today, he seemed to have decided English was easier, as I just saw him on the News saying that 'discharging a Firearm is his Customary Right'.

Okay... Customary? What the? Did the Maori have Firearms before the Pakeha arrived here?

[caine74]

This story sounds interesting!
I do believe that he needs to follow the law of the land. If there are two standards of the law then it causes animosity between different races.

Of course here many states now make it possible for everyone to conceal their firearm, so a person wielding a gun would have a good chance of getting shot.

[Lina]

Let it go already!!!!