NZ bans ‘military’ weapons
A week after attacks, the nation stopped sales of some semi-automatic guns and magazines.
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Only a week after attacks on two mosques in New Zealand killed 50 worshippers, the country has banned sales of “military-style” semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines.
In the world of politics, it’s a lightning fast response, especially when compared to the deeply contentious, long-running gun control debate in the United States.
The suddenness of Thursday’s ban, which came as the dead were being buried, has raised many questions, especially for those not familiar with firearms.
Here’s a closer look:
What’s being banned? Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that “every semi-automatic weapon used in the terrorist attack last Friday will be banned.”
Ardern said a sales ban was effective immediately to prevent stockpiling and would be followed by a complete ban on the weapons after new laws are rushed through.
The ban includes any “military-style” semi-automatic guns or shotguns that are capable of being used with a detachable magazine that holds more than five rounds. It also extends to accessories, such as bump stocks,.
Military-style semiautomatics have been defined under New Zealand law as rifles with magazines exceeding seven shots, or with pistol grips, folding or telescopic butts, bayonet attachments or flash suppressors at the end of the barrel.
Many different types of firearms, from pistols to rifles and shotguns, can be semi-automatic. Semi-automatic refers to a firearm’s ability to self-load, not only firing a bullet with each trigger pull, but also reloading and making the firearm capable of firing again.
What’s not being banned? The ban does not include semi-automatic .22 caliber or smaller guns that hold up to 10 rounds or semi-automatic and pumpaction shotguns with nondetachable magazines that hold up to five rounds. The guns not banned are commonly used by farmers and hunters.
The government said the police and military would be exempt, as would professional pest control.
What happens to banned
guns? Ardern said people could hand over their guns under an amnesty while officials develop a formal buyback scheme, which could cost up to $140 million.
New Zealand police said on their website that the “transitional period” would allow people to arrange to hand over their unlawful firearms to police without penalties. It encouraged people to fill out an online form and said after that police would be in touch to make arrangements.
There could be legal exemptions to the ban, but Ardern said any exemptions would be “tightly regulated.”
“For other dealers, sales should essentially now cease,” she said.
How many guns are affected? There are nearly 250,000 licensed gun owners in New Zealand, which has a population of 5 million people. Officials estimate there are 1.5 million guns in the country.
Sydney University gun policy expert Philip Alpers estimated that only 6 percent of all weapons in New Zealand were registered.
He said there could be 500,000 semi-automatic rifles and shotguns. But, he added, “only a small proportion of those would be capable of taking a large-capacity magazine. So that’s the number that everyone is trying to guess.”
Do New Zealanders support it? The ban is widely supported and puts New Zealand “almost exactly in line” with Australia, the United Kingdom and “somewhat with Canada,” according to Professor Kevin Clements, chairman of Peace and Conflicts studies at the University of Otago and a firearms expert.
One of New Zealand’s largest gun retailers, Hunting & Fishing New Zealand, said it supports “any government measure to permanently ban such weapons.”
The company said it would no longer stock any assault-style firearms of any category and would also stop selling firearms online.
What’s next?
Alpers noted that New Zealand, although it requires handgun registration, “is still the only country apart from the United States and to some degree Canada that doesn’t have (firearm) registration as its third pillar of gun control” along with licensing and treating possession as a conditional privilege.