New Zealand citizens open to gun reform after massacre

New Zealand leer’s promise of tightened gun laws in wake of Christchurch mosque shootings has been widely welcomed by a stunned population.

Prime Minister Jacinta Ardern said her Cabinet will consider details of changes on Monday, March 18. She has said options include a ban on private ownership of semi-automatic rifles that were used with devastating effect in Christchurch and a government-funded buyback of newly outlawed guns.

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While curtailing gun owners’ rights is a political battleground in United States, Christchurch gun owner Max Roberts, 22, predicted Ardern won’t face serious opposition to her nda.

“re will be opposition to it. re’s movement in New Zealand for that. Our media and politics are more left wing,” said Roberts, a carpenter who uses guns for hunting.

Elliot Dawson, who survived shooting at Christchurch’s Linwood mosque by hiding in a bathroom, hopes New Zealand follows Australia’s le on gun control. In Australia, a virtual ban on private ownership of semi-automatic rifles and a government-funded gun buyback cut size of country’s civilian arsenal by almost a third.

ban followed a 1996 massacre in which a lone gunman used assault rifles to kill 35 people in Tasmania state in 1996.

“Personally, I don’t think guns should be legal at all. Maybe in some extreme self-defense, but I don’t think y need such firearms like that,” Dawson said. “New Zealand is t America. America is a totally different situation. I think in America it would be probably more dangerous to take people’s guns away. But here, I don’t think we need m at all.”

Akshesh Sharma moved to Christchurch from Fiji to study. He was shocked that shooter was able to get his hands on such military-style weapons.

Sharma agrees with prime minister that gun laws need to be tightened.

“I don’t see this as a place where you need guns to live to feel safe,” Sharma said. “I can understand in U.S. maybe, but here it’s a different story.”

Roberts, gun owner, doubted banning certain s of weapons would be effective. But he said New Zealand should only allow its own citizens to buy guns. Brenton Harrison Tarrant, Australian charged in Christchurch shootings, obtained a New Zealand gun license in vember 2017 and started legally amassing an arsenal of five guns within a month.

“I think when people harbor hate like, that se things are possible,” Roberts said.

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“Particularly Australian citizens, I don’t understand how y can get access to firearms in New Zealand when New Zealand citizens can’t get access to firearms in Australia,” he ded.

Ian Britton uses a rifle for shooting rabbits and target shooting. He favors outlawing assault rifles like those used in Christchurch because y’re unnecessary.

“I can’t use words I’d like to use, but it’s disgusting. I never thought I’d see that in this country,” Britton said.

Ardern ted that attempts to reform h failed before under pressure from gun lobby.

“re have been attempts to change our laws in 2005, 2012 and after an inquiry in 2017. w is time for change,” she said.