Trade Me halts sales of firearm
Trade Me is halting the sale of semi-automatic weapons while it waits for more clarity from the Government in the aftermath of the Christchurch terrorist attack.
As of yesterday morning, the auction website continued to allow the sale of AR15 rifles despite social media calls from Kiwis for the company to block the weapons on its platform.
However, in a media release sent about 11am, Trade Me said it had listened to public sentiment and decided to remove all semiautomatic firearms sales and parts associated with those weapons from yesterday.
Trade Me chief executive Jon Macdonald said: ‘‘There is a bit of work involved in doing this but we will have these listings removed later today.
‘‘We’re obviously still reeling, like all New Zealanders, and our hearts go out to the victims and their families and friends.’’
Gun laws are now a top priority for the Cabinet after a terrorist used semi-automatic weapons to gun down worshippers at two Christchurch mosques on Friday afternoon.
The attacks left 50 people dead with another 34 still in hospital, 12 in critical condition.
Macdonald said Trade Me received a lot of feedback over the weekend about this issue, with many people wanting a halt to the sale of firearms on the auction website.
‘‘We’ve listened to these sentiments and we’ve put this ban in place while we await clear direction from the Government,’’ Macdonald said.
Trade Me’s earlier position was that trading between licensed owners via Trade Me in a safe, trusted, transparent and traceable environment was better for New Zealand than many of the alternatives, he said.
‘‘But it is clear public sentiment has changed in relation to semi-automatic weapons and we acknowledge that, which is why we’re putting this ban in place.’’
Before the ban was announced Twitter users expressed outrage that the guns were still available for sale yesterday morning with some threatening to pull their support from the site.
Former MP Tau Henare said Trade Me had until 5pm on Sunday to stop sales or he would close his account.
Some Twitter users called on the auction company to ‘‘do the right thing’’ in a similar way Air New Zealand did after a backlash to rising airfares to Christchurch.
Others called on a blanket moratorium on the sale of the weapons after reports of people rushing to buy and sell the guns before any potential changes to the legislation.