New Zealand authorities yesterday said that their country would be a safer place after owners handed in more than 50,000 guns during a buyback program following a ban on assault weapons, but critics have said that the process is flawed and that many owners have illegally stashed their firearms.
The government banned the most lethal types of semi-automatic weapons less than a month after a lone gunman in March killed 51 worshipers at two Christchurch mosques. The police then launched a six-month program to buy the newly banned weapons from owners.
The buyback ended at midnight on Friday, with gun collection events staying open late as police reported a surge in last-minute returns.
Photo: AP
Provisional figures indicate that 33,000 people handed in 51,000 guns, and that another 5,000 guns were turned in as part of a parallel amnesty program, in which owners could hand over any type of firearm without any questions being asked, but without getting compensated.
Owners also modified another 2,700 guns to make them legally compliant, while police said that they seized an additional 1,800 guns from gangs since March.
Police said that they are in the process of collecting another 1,600 guns from gun dealers.
Criminals would find it more difficult to get their hands on assault weapons, because they tend to steal them from lawful owners, but those weapons would now be out of circulation, New Zealand Minister of Police Stuart Nash told reporters yesterday.
Police Deputy Commissioner Mike Clement thanked gun owners for doing the right thing.
He acknowledged in a statement that it had been “a difficult process for some people.”
Both Nash and Clement said that the country is now safer than it was before the March attacks.
However, Nicole McKee, spokeswoman for the advocacy group Council of Licensed Firearms Owners, said that owners have kept about two-thirds of the banned weapons, because they have lost faith in the government and have not been offered adequate compensation.
“They never overcame being blamed by authorities for being somehow responsible for a heinous act of terrorism — something they would never do,” McKee said.
The ban on assault weapons was strongly backed by lawmakers in an historic 119-1 vote after the mosque attacks. Lawmakers are now considering additional restrictions, including creating a register to track all guns.
Police figures indicate that the government paid out just more than NZ$100 million (US$66.04 million) to compensate owners during the buyback.
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