One way to respond
Days after a gunman carried out a horrifying attack on two mosques that killed 50 people in Christchurch, New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that she had ordered an inquiry to determine whether government agencies could have prevented the tragedy. “The purpose of this inquiry,” she said, “is to look at what all relevant agencies knew—or could or should have known—about the individual and his activities, including his access to weapons.”
How did this happen? What could have been done differently? The questions are simple and obvious. They are nonetheless still striking for the contrast they show between how New Zealand and the United States respond to mass shootings. Instead of asking questions or resolving to take action as politicians in New Zealand are doing, we have come to accept as inevitable that large numbers of people will be killed every year by madmen with guns.
Such mass shootings are rare in New Zealand, as are all gun-related homicides. But the ease with which the Christchurch gunman was able to obtain an arsenal that included semiautomatic weapons was enough to convince Ardern of the need for better checks on guns. She announced her intent to tighten the country’s laws—including possible restrictions on military-style rifles and large-ammunition magazines—mere hours after Friday’s terrifying events. She said this week that her Labour-led government would unveil the plans by Monday. “As a Cabinet, we were absolutely unified and very clear,” she said. “The time to act is now.”
Any change would have to be approved by Parliament, and it is expected that there will be opposition. But the gunrights lobby in New Zealand is far less powerful than that in the United States, where the National Rifle Association’s stranglehold on lawmakers blocked any meaningful reform even after elementary school children were slaughtered. And it was encouraging—even inspiring—to see politicians in New Zealand who had opposed gun control change their minds. “The reality is that after 1 p.m. on the 15th of March, our world changed forever, and so will some of our laws,” said Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, whose New Zealand First party had previously opposed changes.
Meanwhile, in Washington, the modest push for universal background checks for gun purchases that passed the House faces an uphill struggle in the Senate and veto threats from the White House, even though it has the support of most Americans. Once again, the U.S. political system looks feckless compared with other democracies.