Hi Bruce
I'm sorry that light-hearted stuff has caused you distress
As an American It might be hard for you to understand antipodean humour?
That comment was an example of the black humour common in NZ and Australia, and the joke about shooting a politician or two to gain oneself a warm retirement with healthcare etc . . . . it's a bit hard to explain but it's an old, old, joke
It has nothing to do with shooting politicians, it's a commentary on the way politicians run things so that a working man, having toiled all his life, and now in his twilight years, cannot afford healthcare, or to get his rotten teeth fixed, or his worn-out hip replaced, or somewhere warm and dry and safe to live with central heating and three square meals a day, or even somewhere warm, dry and vaguely hospitable where he might feel comfortable having his grandkids visit . . .
Whereas a criminal, never having done an honest day's work in his life, is rewarded - by said politicians - with the tenure of a warm dry cell, with three square meals a day, an out-of-the-weather exercise yard, first-world health & dental care, free clothing. bedding, laundry, library service, TV etc etc, plus visiting rights for his family, the prospect of government assistance to allow them to move house to be closer to him so as to support and visit him, and the congenial company of like-minded others
Since all one has to do to move from private poverty to government-funded luxury is to commit a substantial crime - then the politician (the cause of the problem in the first place) is an ideal target
That's the short version lol