America has this phenomenal reputation for getting stuff done fast. Flamboyant Libyan dictator needs putting in his place? Let’s cut the crap and drop the payload. Giant brick wall needs building? Let’s bypass democracy and declare a national emergency. Too many migrants crossing the border? Hell, let’s just lock their kids in cages and see what happens.

You get the idea. We’re a nation of hot-blooded reactionaries – we’re hard-coded to do everything we can to protect the motherland. Time and time again, we’ve compromised our morals in order to deliver a decisive end to anything and everything that threatens the herd. When something goes tits up, Americans find a quick solution and make it happen.

Unless we’re talking about guns, that is. When it comes to all things murder-inducing, a whole lot of Americans would rather shove their fingers deep into their ear canals, slam their eyes shut and belt out "The Star Spangled Banner" at the top of their lungs until somebody changes the subject.

El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Show all 39 1 /39 El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store CCTV images of the gunman identified as Patrick Crusius The 21 year old, as he entered the Cielo Vista Walmart store in El Paso. The gunman was armed with an assault rifle and opened fire on shoppers at a packed Walmart store, killing 20. KTSM 9/AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Law enforcement agencies respond The Texas city’s police chief said the assault on a Walmart store on Saturday, which left another 26 people wounded, was being investigated as a potential hate crime. AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Shoppers exit with their hands up Shoppers exit with their hands up after a mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, U.S. August 3, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Salgado NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. STRINGER Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store FBI released a picture of gunman Patrick Crusius The police officially identified the 21-year-old white male from Allen, Texas, a Dallas suburb some 650 miles east of El Paso. FBI/AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A woman reacts after the mass shooting The attack came just minutes after a far-right manifesto appeared online. If authentic, it would make it the third mass shooting this year announced in advance on the website, which often features far-right and racist content. Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Law enforcement responds to the active shooter The racist four-page document, titled “The Inconvenient Truth”, calls the Walmart attack “a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas” and expresses support for the gunman who killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand earlier this year. AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A shopper hiding with an old lady behind the return and exchanges counter as the shooting began. Aaron Castaneda/Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Ambulances in the car park near the scene It is ranked as the eighth-deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, after a 1984 shooting in San Ysidro, California, that claimed 21 lives. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Kendall Long (left) comforts Kianna Long (right) who was in the freezer section of Walmart. EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store epa07755367 Police stand at attention after a shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, USA, 03 August 2019. According to reports, at least one person was killed and at least 18 people injured and transported to local hospitals. One suspect is in custody. EPA/IVAN PIERRE AGUIRRE IVAN PIERRE AGUIRRE EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Shoppers exit with their hands up. Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Shopping carts sit next to a curb after the shooting. EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store El Paso Fire Medical personnel arrive at the scene. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Walmart employees react after. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A woman runs to police near the scene. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Several law enforcement agencies respond. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People arrive at MacArthur Elementary looking for family and friends as the school is being used a re-unification centre. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Residents Erica Rios, 36, and Alma Rios, 61, cry outside a reunification centre. AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People gather in Juarez, Mexico, in a vigil for the Mexican nationals who were killed. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A child takes part in a vigil in Ciudad Juarez AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Francisco Castaneda joins mourners taking part in a vigil at El Paso High School. Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Presidential candidate and former congressman Beto O'Rourke, right, meets with mass shooting survivor, Rosemary, at University Medical Centre Beto O'Rourke Facebook via AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store From left, Melody Stout, Hannah Payan, Aaliyah Alba, Sherie Gramlich and Laura Barrios comfort each other during a vigil for victims of the shooting. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A sign is posted near the scene Getty Images El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Police cars parked below the Walmart sign block a road outside while investigating. EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Sherie Gramlich reacts during a vigil. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A man places flowers at the site Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People take part in a rally against hate a day after a mass shooting at the Walmart store Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Lupe Lopez holds a picture of a victim during a vigil for victims AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People take part in a rally against hate a day after a mass shooting at a Walmart store, in El Paso, Texas, U.S. August 4, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ REUTERS El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Elsa Mendoza Marquez, a Mexican schoolteacher who was married and the mother of two adult children, was one of the victims Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People with the Mexican flag and the US flag take part in a rally against hate a day Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People raise their arms in the air during a vigil for victims AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People react and embrace each other Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Women light candles at a make shift memorial at the site of a mass shooting EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Adria Gonzalez (centre) who is being hailed as a hero for leading some Walmart customers to safety, speaks to the crowd AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People hold up their phones AFP/Getty Images El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Beto O'Rourke speaks to the crowd AFP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People react during a prayer and candle vigil organized by the city, after a shooting left 20 people dead at the Cielo Vista Mall WalMart in El Paso, Texas, on August 4, 2019. - A shooting at a Walmart store in Texas left multiple people dead. At least one suspect was taken into custody after the shooting in the border city of El Paso, triggering fear and panic among weekend shoppers as well as widespread condemnation. It was the second fatal shooting in less than a week at a Walmart store in the US and comes after a mass shooting in California last weekend. (Photo by Mark RALSTON / AFP)MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images MARK RALSTON AFP/Getty

Whenever an innocent child gets shot and killed at church by some lunatic with an assault rifle, millions of lethargic, freedom-toting white folks simply shrug, tweet something ambiguous about "thoughts and prayers" and move on with their lives. We all grumble something needs to be done about mass shootings, but apparently neither voters nor lawmakers are able to think of any single, logical solution we as a nation could actively pursue in order to prevent gun crime.

Well, hold your horses everybody, because New Zealanders have finally come up with a practical solution to a problem America has been grappling with for generations – and you know how long it took them? Six days.

That’s right. Less than a week after New Zealand’s first-ever mass shooting – less than a week after some far-right extremist with a heart full of hate mercilessly cut short the lives of 50 innocent worshippers – and prime minister Jacinda Ardern has announced the country is taking real action to ensure this can never happen again.

How, you ask? Gun control. Within a few days of the country’s worst-ever tragedy, Ardern was able to reach across the aisle, win cross-party support from right-wing opponents and agree on plans to implement a blanket ban on all semi-automatic weapons. High-capacity magazines? They’re banned, too. Bump stocks and other dangerous mods? Banned.

This solution won’t be easy, and it’ll cost the government money. The introduction of a fair buyback scheme to collect and safely dispose of all these guns could cost New Zealand up to $200m. But politicians on all sides of the spectrum have swallowed their pride, agreed this is in the national interest and are making it happen.

Six days it took them. Six. Seis. Sechs. Sei.

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New Zealand has done in less than a week what Americans haven’t managed to figure out in 250 years. Just out of curiosity, do you want to know how many Americans have been shot in the last six days? 413. In the last 72 hours alone, 76 Americans have been killed by a gun. Six of the dead were children – and if you fancy zooming out for even more context, almost 3,000 Americans have been murdered by guns so far in 2019. We’re not even done with March, and 3,000 people are dead.

How long are we going to sit here and make believe there’s no way to prevent these deaths? How long are we going to do nothing and simply hope our kids aren’t the next to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time? How much longer can we perpetuate the weekly mass murder of our friends, family and relatives through pigheaded inaction?