Thousands of weapons turned over in buyback

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Some New Zealand gun owners are upset they’re being compelled to hand over their assault weapons for money. Others believe a government-imposed ban on certain semi-automatics following a March shooting massacre is the best way to combat gun violence. And the Associated Press has found at least one man may have tried to swindle hundreds of thousands of dollars from the system set up to compensate gun owners.

New Zealand is six weeks into an ambitious program to buy tens of thousands of guns from owners across the country. After a lone gunman killed 51 people at two Christchurch mosques nearly six months ago, the government rushed through new laws banning military-style semi-automatics in a move that’s being closely followed around the world.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told the AP in July that most New Zealanders disagree with the U.S. model under which gun ownership is seen as a constitutional right. The new laws in New Zealand emphasize that gun ownership is instead considered a privilege.

So far, owners have turned in more than 15,000 newly banned guns as well as 64,000 parts and accessories. In return, the government has handed them 32 million New Zealand dollars ($20 million). But nobody has a clear target for the program because authorities haven’t kept track of the number of guns in the country.

Tentative estimates put the total number of guns in New Zealand at about 1.5 million and the number of weapons that are now banned at up to 175,000. If those numbers are correct, it would mean less than 10 percent of the banned weapons have been handed in so far. Owners have until Dec. 20 to turn them over or potentially face charges.

Some politicians and opponents say the buyback scheme is a fiasco that is unfairly targeting law-abiding gun owners rather than criminals or gangs. However, Police Deputy Commissioner Mike Clement, a 40-year veteran tapped to oversee the scheme, says it has been working well. He’s traveled to some of the dozens of buyback events and says nobody really knows how many banned guns are out there so any estimates are unhelpful.

“We’re just going to keep pushing ourselves,” Clement said.

Under the buyback scheme, gun owners get between 25 percent and 95 percent of the pre-tax price of a new gun, depending on the condition of their guns. Police take bank details from owners and usually deposit money into their accounts within a few days.

After collecting the weapons, police use a hydraulic machine to crush the barrels and triggers out of shape before tossing them into crates that are loaded onto a truck for disposal.