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Banned AR-15<\/p>\n
New Zealand gun owners have handed in tens of thousands of firearms as part of an ambitious six-month weapons buy-back program following a ban on certain semi-automatic rifles.<\/p>\n
On March 15, a lone gunman killed 51 people at two Christchurch mosques. Less than a month after the attack, the New Zealand government rushed through new laws banning military-style semi-automatic weapons in a move that was closely followed around the world.<\/p>\n
As of midnight local time on Friday, 56,250 firearms and 194,245 parts had been handed in at more than 685 collection events held around the country, New Zealand Police Deputy Commissioner Mike Clement said.<\/p>\n
Numbers by themselves, with no context are meaningless. How well is the gun ban really working?<\/p>\n
By Emanuel Stoakes
\nCHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand \u2014 New Zealanders had until Friday to surrender banned firearms under a mandatory government buyback after the country’s deadliest terrorist attack. But not all gun owners have heeded the call, raising questions about its effectiveness and offering lessons for gun-control advocates in the United States.<\/p>\nThe Pacific nation outlawed semiautomatics and most high-powered military-style firearms after a gunman killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch on March 15. The trial of Brenton Tarrant, the alleged shooter, is set to begin in June.<\/p>\n
To get guns out of circulation, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern turned to a method Australia implemented in the 1990s \u2014 buying back existing firearms while giving owners a grace period before their weapons would become illegal. Ardern’s center-left government set aside about $110 million to compensate owners.<\/p>\n
“We have moved to stop the sale, and now we’ve moved to stop the ongoing circulation of these weapons,” she said in introducing the legislation.<\/p>\n
The approach won wide public support and near-unanimous bipartisan backing in New Zealand, as well as praise from some quarters in the United States. Prominent politicians such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a Democratic presidential candidate, and former congressman Beto O’Rourke (D-Tex.) have proposed similar measures.<\/p>\n
About 47,000 firearms have been collected, and about 2,000 others have been modified to become lawful, New Zealand police figures show.<\/p>\n
A government-commissioned assessment by the accounting firm KPMG estimated that the number of banned guns could be between 50,000 and 170,000. If the median of that range were correct, more than half of the prohibited firearms would be unaccounted for; the precise figure is unknown because New Zealand until this year lacked a registry for military-style semiautomatics.<\/p>\n
With the amnesty expiring, the nation’s largest gun-rights group this week declared the buyback an “unmitigated failure,” citing the group’s research. Some two-thirds of weapons banned after the Christchurch massacre remain in the hands of New Zealanders, according to the Council of Licensed Firearms Owners, making those gun owners liable to five years’ imprisonment.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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“On the one hand, taking around 50,000 of these weapons out of the community is a clearly positive step,” she said. “On the other hand, we don’t know what proportion of all prohibited firearms this represents. If we use the lower-bound estimates, it’s a pretty good result; if we use the higher ones, it’s less so.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
For comparison, estimates of firearm owners compliance with the New York Safe Act is around 4%.<\/p>\n
Refs: Washington Post<\/a>, Hudson Valley One<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"