MILITARY ASSAULT RIFLES TO BE BANNED
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced a ban on military style, semi-automatic (MSSA) guns and assault rifles in the wake of the Christchurch mosque shootings.
All semi-automatic weapons used during the terrorist attack last Friday will be banned, she said.
Related parts used to convert the guns into MSSAs would also be banned, along with all highcapacity magazines.
Cabinet had still to consider issues surrounding a gun register, she said.
She also announced immediate action to prevent stockpiling, and a buy-back scheme that could cost anywhere between $100 million and $200m.
The buy-back scheme was being established as an incentive for owners, who legally bought their guns, to return weapons and was being developed alongside the drafting of the new law.
There would be time for the handover of the banned guns to police and it would not be criminalised overnight, she said.
After a ‘‘reasonable time’’, those who continued to possess the guns would be breaking the law. The current fines were up to $4000 and/or three years in prison but the new law would increase those penalties.
‘‘On March 15, our history changed forever. Now our laws will too. We are announcing action today [Thursday] on behalf of all New Zealanders to strengthen our gun laws and make our country a safer place,’’ Ardern said.
Speaking yesterday in Wellington, she said changes to the laws after the Aramoana massacre in 1990, and subsequent additions, did not go far enough.
She reaffirmed loopholes in the current law continued to exist.
Legislation to give effect to the ban will be introduced under urgency when Parliament sits in the first week of April.
A shortened select committee process, for feedback on the technical aspects of the changes, would apply, so she urged those who wished to submit, to start now.
She expected the amendments to the Arms Act to be in place by April 11. An amnesty will be put in place for weapons to be handed in.
As an interim measure to ensure the trade of the weapons ceased at 3pm yesterday, the weapons had been recategorised as requiring an E endorsement on a firearms licence, preventing their sale to people with A category licences.
‘‘This will mean that no-one will be able to buy these weapons without a permit to procure from the police. I can assure people that there is no point in applying for such a permit.’’
She believed the vast majority of legitimate gun owners in New Zealand would understand the moves were in the national interest, and would take the changes in their stride.
When Australia undertook similar reforms, its approach was to allow exemptions for farmers upon application, including for pest control and animal welfare.
New Zealand has taken similar action to identify the weapons legitimately required in those areas, and preclude them, she said.
Police Minister Stuart Nash said the bill would include narrow exemptions for legitimate business use, which would include professional pest control.
Police and the New Zealand Defence Force would also have exemptions and issues like access for mainstream international sporting competitions were also being worked through, he said.