All-party support on guns

The Government has confirmed it is looking into how it might fund a gun buy-back scheme, while the Opposition has confirmed it would likely support a ban of semi-automatic weapons.

But Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is yet to announce details of an ‘‘agreement in principle’’, reached by Cabinet on Monday, to wide-sweeping reform of New Zealand’s gun laws following the Christchurch terror attacks.

The first set of changes, once announced, are likely to have bipartisan support across Parliament. Ardern has indicated there might be at least two tranches of reform – one more immediate, with some changes requiring longer discussion.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson confirmed he was looking at how a potential ‘‘buy-back’’ scheme, of weapons that had to be surrendered, could be funded.

That suggested a ban was on the table. However, it’s not yet clear whether that would be a ban on all semi-automatic weapons, or one on all military-style semiautomatic weapons, with more stringent classifications as to what weapons should be in that category.

Ardern would not be drawn on whether a moratorium on sales of semi-automatics would accompany any forthcoming announcement of the Government’s plans.

‘‘There are a range of holes in our gun laws and we are looking, broadly, at all of those holes.’’

She was not concerned that international gun lobby groups might try to insert themselves into the New Zealand debate.

‘‘We have our own culture in New Zealand; we see our own needs. And I think the response we’ll have will be a New Zealand one,’’ Ardern said.

‘‘As I said yesterday, we do have legitimate and responsible gun use, particularly in our rural community, [for] animal welfare, pest control. My view is that those gun owners will be with us – that is my absolute belief.’’

Ardern welcomed support from the National Party.

‘‘Certainly, I think that it would be hugely beneficial if we can reach consensus,’’ she said.

‘‘Cabinet has already made a decision. We will be sharing our proposals with others and my hope would be that we form consensus,’’ she said.

National Party leader Simon Bridges said his party wanted to play ‘‘a very constructive role’’.

‘‘We totally understand that change is needed. You’ll forgive my reticence – effectively, I just don’t know what it is they’re proposing yet. There are different ways to do this,’’ Bridges said.

‘‘I do want to talk with them about it and see exactly what they’re proposing.

‘‘But my clear hope and expectation is it will be bipartisan – something not just from Government but across Parliament.’’

When the two bullets cut clean through his left calf, Feroze Mohammed Ditta felt nothing.

He lay in the doorway, halfin, half out of the Al Noor Mosque. Pinned by 20 bodies, listening to the killer come back for a second go, he thought, ‘‘Today is the day I meet my maker’’.

But his maker had other plans.

Sitting on his couch at home, his bandaged and cast-bound leg propped up, a weary Ditta relished being back with his wife and two daughters in familiar suburban surrounds, where the most threatening noise was the barking dog across the road.

The 51-year-old Mainfreight owner-operator was one of the first two seriously injured shooting victims to be discharged from hospital on Monday afternoon.

‘‘Two gunshot wounds to left lower leg . . . no bony injury seen,’’ was the sanitised description in the discharge notes. That’s not how Ditta remembered it.

He was at the Masjid Al Noor on Deans Ave for Friday prayers, as he was every Friday. Deep inside the main prayer hall, he didn’t see much. But he heard the gunshots. Pap, pap, pap – like fireworks that wouldn’t let up. He ran to the emergency side exit, smashed the glass and tried to go through it.

‘‘It was like a stampede of people trying to get out. I was pushed over and there was a whole heap of people that fell on top of me. I just lay there, couldn’t move. I heard gunfire.

‘‘He came in. He fired all his rounds, then it went quiet for a while . . . I lay on the floor, waiting for him to come through. He came back again and had another go at shooting. I could hear it, it was so close. I thought, ‘today is the day I meet my maker’.’’

Then after about 10 minutes, it went all quiet. That was when he realised he’d been shot. Most of his body was shielded by the mountain of unmoving humanity on top of him, but his leg must have been exposed. As the shooter fired randomly, he was hit twice. At first, he felt nothing. But after 10 minutes, the pain became excruciating.

‘‘That’s when I dragged myself from underneath the pile. There were just bodies everywhere, some were screaming for help. Just blood everywhere. It was just an awful sight.’’

Nobody responded so he assumed they were all dead. Unable to stand, he dragged himself out onto the road. There, a good samaritan in a ute was waiting. He threw out his tools and bundled Ditta into the back seat, along with two others, and drove them to the hospital.

At the emergency department, it was chaos but the doctors and nurses were amazing. They cleaned his