WTF?

I read this and thought the papers have made a really stupid mistake - reprinting an old story. I say old, when in fact, it was only a few weeks ago that New Zealand woke up to hear that two teenagers attacked a police officer with a machete, but now, it's bloody well happened again. 

Two common denominators: Alcohol and weapons. Throw in some dysfunctional family stuff and you have a ready-made concoction of heavy duty trouble. Why can't people connect the dots? Moreover, why should we put our fine police officers in the front line without adequate protection from these morons? Arm our police. I never thought I'd hear myself say that but... would you walk into a "public nuisance" call armed with just a frigging baton? When people are strung out on alcohol and/or drugs they're not people you can reason with. Yet it never ceases to amaze me how these same people can form a logical conclusion when a gun is drawn. We don't pay our Police enough for this crap. 

And don't even get me started on how these teenagers may or may not have come from violent homes, as if that in itself is reason enough to go at an innocent person with a life-threatening weapon. I know plenty of people who have come from violent homes and none of them would go to this extreme. But then again, I'm not the sort of person who'd want to even drink with them in the first place. 

"'We ask that people think about where their alcohol consumption is taking them and over the holiday period, if they find things getting on top of them, take time out or seek help before the situation deteriorates,' Blow said." Two teens arrested after machete attack | Stuff.co.nz: 

Maybe that's the message here folks - choose who you want to drink with. Your life may depend on it.