New Zealand’s government yesterday introduced a bill it plans to rush into law that would ban the types of weapons a shooter used to kill 50 people at two mosques.
For the most part, the nation’s gun lobby is okay with that.
New Zealand Police Minister Stuart Nash said that if lawmakers pass the bill as expected, the new law would take effect on Friday next week, less than a month after the March 15 attacks.
Photo: AP
Plans for legal changes were first announced by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the days after the attacks, when the government imposed an immediate ban on the sales of such weapons.
The bill has bipartisan support and could even pass with a unanimous vote of all 120 lawmakers.
“These are guns that are designed to kill people,” Nash said.
He said one of the weapons used by the gunman was an AR-15-style rifle, and that all the weapons used in the attacks would be banned.
The bill would ban military-style semi-automatic guns (MSSAs), high-capacity magazines, semi-automatic shotguns that could be fitted with detachable magazines and pump-action shotguns that can hold more than five rounds.
The bill would not ban guns often used by farmers and hunters such as semi-automatic .22 caliber or smaller guns that hold up to 10 rounds, or shotguns that hold up to five rounds.
Nash said the gunman had left a national legacy of harm, pain and grief.
He said the gunman was able to buy semi-automatic guns and high-capacity magazines legally, and then put them together to create military-style weapons.
“The loophole that this terrorist used to kill 50 people was totally unacceptable,” Nash said. “We’re closing that down.”
The bill would also impose tougher penalties for people who use the weapons after they are banned. Lawmakers intend to introduce more legislation later in the year, including the creation of a register to track guns.
The government intends to compensate owners of banned guns in a buyback scheme that will cost up to NZ$200 million (US$137 million). An amnesty will give people until Sept. 30 to hand over banned weapons.
Nash said that so far, about 200 people have handed in their guns, but many are waiting for the buyback scheme’s details, which have not yet been announced.
There will be some exemptions from the ban, including police officers, military personnel and some authorized pest controllers.
In stark contrast to the US, where even the most minor curbs on gun ownership meet ferocious opposition led by the National Rifle Association (NRA), New Zealand gun owners agree action is needed.
“We want to support our government in any changes to prevent a terrorist attack from happening in New Zealand again,” Council of Licensed Firearm Owners secretary Nicole McKee said.
In a move that would be unthinkable in the US, one of the nation’s largest gun retailers, Hunting & Fishing, voluntarily stopped selling MSSAs and halted online firearms sales.
“Such weapons of war have no place in our business — or our country,” chief executive Darren Jacobs said.
New Zealand has a National Rifle Association, but since the shooting, it has been at pains to point out it is a small sporting organization, not a wealthy political lobby group like its US counterpart.
“Our members shoot with single-shot bolt action rifles at paper targets,” president Malcolm Dodson said.
There are approximately 393 million guns in private hands in the US, or 1.2 for every person, whereas New Zealand has about 1.5 million, or 0.3 per person.
The New Zealand government believes there are 13,500 MSSAs in the country, while estimates put the number in the US at 15 million.
However, not everyone agrees with the government’s move.
“Tyrant Prime Minister Kills Sports Shooting,” the headline on one pro-gun Web site reads.
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