New Zealand Citizens Open To Gun Reform After Massacre

[DonViejo]

Source: Talking Points Memo/The AP



By STEPHEN WRIGHT and KRISTEN GELINEAU

March 17, 2019 9:16 am

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — The New Zealand leader’s promise of tightened gun laws in the wake of the Christchurch mosque shootings has been widely welcomed by a stunned population.


Prime Minister Jacinta Ardern said her Cabinet will consider the details of the changes on Monday. She has said options include a ban on private ownership of semi-automatic rifles that were used with devastating effect in Christchurch and a government-funded buyback of newly outlawed guns.

While curtailing gun owners’ rights is a political battleground in the United States, Christchurch gun owner Max Roberts, 22, predicted Ardern won’t face serious opposition to her agenda.

“There will be no opposition to it. There’s no movement in New Zealand for that. Our media and politics are more left wing,” said Roberts, a carpenter who uses guns for hunting.

Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/new-zealand-citizens-open-to-gun-reform-after-massacre

[cstanleytech]

1. I hope that the buyback is a required one for the majority otherwise it is worthless.

[DirtEdonE]

2. Here in "The Greatest Nation on Earth!" tm

A couple dozen dead toddlers can't even get our gun junkies off their drug of choice because here in the USA we love our guns more than we love our children. If not, someone would surely have done something about this carnage by now.

[Firestorm49]

3. How special! So are we, but our government, and it's boss, the NRA, doesn't give a damn.

[Sunlei]

4. NZ Attorny General: "New Zealand to ban semi-automatic weapons"

He warned of a global rise of extremism.

"There is a dimming of enlightenment in many parts of the world," he said.

"How can it be right for this atrocity to be filmed by the murderer using a go-pro and live-streamed across the world by social media companies?

"How can that be right? Who should be held accountable for that?"

NZ Attorny General

[Legrant]

5. Better late than never

[meadowlander]

6. Why I'm proud to be a Kiwi

A number of people are already surrendering their semi-automatic weapons to the police:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12213947

[nitpicker]

7. More from The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/18/christchurch-attack-jacinda-ardern-says-cabinet-has-agreed-in-principle-gun-reform

Christchurch attack: Jacinda Ardern says cabinet has agreed 'in principle' gun reform

Eleanor Ainge Roy in Christchurch

Mon 18 Mar 2019 06.19 GMT First published on Mon 18 Mar 2019 06.00 GMT

Jacinda Ardern has said her cabinet is “completely unified” in reforming gun legislation in the wake of the Christchurch terror attack but emerged from a meeting with ministers without concrete proposals to change firearms laws.

The New Zealand prime minister had been expected to announce measures such as a ban on semi-automatic rifles, a plan that was flagged by her attorney general, David Parker, one day after the massacre in which 50 people have died.

However, after emerging from a long cabinet meeting Ardern said her team would take the rest of the week to work out the details after agreeing to make changes “in principle”. The agreement had been reached just 72 hours after the attack, she said, comparing her response time to that of the Australian government after the Port Arthur massacre. “These aren’t simple areas of law. So that’s simply what we’ll be taking the time to get right,” she said.

Hours before Ardern’s appearance, the country’s biggest online auction site, TradeMe, banned semi-automatics and “associated” accessories, saying “it is clear public sentiment has changed”.
(snip)

She urged gun owners to hand in their weapons, and advised anyone considering buying a gun to wait a few days to get some certainty around the laws before investing.
(snip)

[nitpicker]

8. And from nzherald.co

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12213919

Live: PM Jacinda Ardern to announce details on gun reform within 10 days, announces review into agencies' actions

18 Mar, 2019 5:50pm

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has vowed to unveil gun law reforms within 10 days and announced a review into security agencies after the mosque shootings.

She has also called on gun owners to surrender their weapons to police in the aftermath of New Zealand's worst ever terrorist incident.
(snip)

Cabinet met today and had made an in-principle decision about changes to gun laws.
(snip)

Hunting & Fishing New Zealand also confirmed today it was pulling all "military-style" semi-automatic firearms from sale nationwide in the aftermath of the Christchurch attacks. Chief executive Darren Jacobs said the company broadly supported tighter gun controls in New Zealand.

Ardern also confirmed there would be a review of security agencies' actions in the wake of the shooting. It would look at what they knew, or should have known, and whether there were any blocks to information-sharing.

The review would also probe accused gunman Brenton Tarrant's travel and use of social media.
(snip)