Reality check: New Zealand is awash with guns

In a blink, everything has changed and yet nothing has changed. Life goes on. The long, hot days of a record summer are lazily tumbling into autumn, gridlock has returned to the motorways, the kids are back at school. But the murderous events in Christchurch last Friday have distorted everything for us as a nation. This far-flung little haven of ours — we’ve been so proud of its unspoilt coastlines, its quirkiness, its outsized achievements (in our minds, anyway), its inclusiveness and safety. Bad stuff happened somewhere else. We thought we were different. We thought distance protected us from global extremism.

The horrendous events have left us questioning so much of who we are and what we stand for. Our sense of security has been stolen. Christchurch is a city still traumatised by the earthquakes of 2011, and now this — 50 dead and dozens more wounded. In our desperation to reassure ourselves and the world, we have stood together at vigils and on social media over these past days to declare ‘This Is Not Us’; that Kiwis aren’t like that.