The New Zealand government yesterday launched a six-month, multimillion-dollar “buy-back” scheme to compensate owners of powerful, but newly banned semi-automatic weapons prohibited in the wake of deadly attacks on two mosques in the southern city of Christchurch.
New Zealand Minister of Finance Grant Robertson and Minister of Police Stuart Nash said in a joint e-mailed statement that NZ$208 million (US$136 million) had been set aside to compensate owners of the banned semi-automatic firearms up to 95 percent of the original cost.
They would have until Dec. 20 to hand in their weapons.
“Police have detailed plans in place for the next step, which is the collection of firearms from the community. It will be a huge logistical exercise and is expected to get under way in mid-July,” Nash said.
Parliament passed the gun reform law — the first substantial changes to the nation’s gun laws in decades — by a vote of 119 to 1 in April.
The vote came less than a month after the nation’s worst-ever peacetime mass shooting in which 51 people were killed and dozens injured in attacks on two mosques in Christchurch.
The new curbs bar the circulation and use of most semi-automatic firearms, parts that convert firearms into semi-automatic firearms, magazines over a certain capacity and some shotguns.
Existing gun laws had provided for a standard “A-category” gun license covering semi-automatics limited to seven shots.
Police forecast that about 14,300 semi-automatics would be covered by the new legislation, though the government said it was difficult to predict the exact number.
Almost 700 weapons had already been handed in before the compensation scheme was launched and almost 5,000 had been registered by owners with police while they awaited collection.
“There is high uncertainty around any [costs], owing to the lack of information on the number of prohibited items, their type and condition,” Robertson said, adding that better estimates of the total cost would be available once the buy-back was under way and the government would top up the amount if needed.
The government has also begun work on a second arms amendment bill to tackle issues regarding a gun registry, among other things.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday told reporters that she expected the government to announce its plans for the law in the next few weeks.
With a population of just under 5 million, New Zealand is home to an estimated total of 1.5 million firearms, making it the nation with the 17th-highest rate of civilian firearm ownership in the world, according to the Small Arms Survey.
Young Chinese, many who fear age discrimination in their workplace after turning 35, are increasingly starting “one-person companies” that have artificial intelligence (AI) do most of the work. Smaller start-ups are already in vogue in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, with rapidly advancing AI tools seen as a welcome teammate even as they threaten layoffs at existing firms. More young people in China are subscribing to the model, as cities pledge millions of dollars in funding and rent subsidies for such ventures, in alignment with Beijing’s political goal of “technological self-reliance.” “The one-person company is a product of the AI era,” said Karen Dai
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS