The government will start buying back military-style weapons to remove them from circulation after a gunman killed 50 worshipers at two mosques..
By Anna Fifield Anna Fifield Beijing bureau chief. Email Bio Follow March 21 at 7:07 AM CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — It has not even been a week since a gunman spouting anti-immigrant hate stormed into two mosques here, killing 50 people and changing New Zealand forever. The funerals have only just started.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who has won plaudits across the country and the world for her compassionate and swift response to the shootings, announced Thursday that the government is banning “military-style semiautomatics” — defined as semiautomatic guns capable of being used with a detachable magazine that holds more than five cartridges. Parts and accessories that can be used to convert less-powerful guns into military-style weapons are also banned, along with all high-capacity magazines.
Ardern said the ban takes effect immediately to prevent the stockpiling of firearms while legislation to make it permanent is being drafted. But Thursday’s decision amounts to a total ban on the kind of weapons that were used in Christchurch — and in mass-casualty shootings in the United States, such as in Parkland, Fla., Orlando and Las Vegas.
“It’s easier to do here because we have a different type of democracy,” said Paul Buchanan, a former American intelligence analyst who has lived in New Zealand for the last 20 years. “There are so many veto points in the United States, and that’s part of the problem. It allows the lobbyists to come in at any one of the veto points,” he said.
Ardern announced an amnesty and buyback program to encourage owners of guns that are now banned to surrender their weapons. Interest groups including Fish and Game, the agency that regulates bird hunting, and Federated Farmers, an agricultural organization, supported the ban. Major retailers had already pulled all military-style semiautomatic firearms from sale nationwide.By moving so quickly, Ardern made it impossible for the group to put up much of a fight, said Buchanan. “Because the country is still in shock, the prime minister caught the gun lobby when they are on the back foot,” he said.
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