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New Zealand MPs overwhelmingly back post-Christchurch gun ban New Zealand MPs overwhelmingly back post-Christchurch gun ban
(about 5 hours later)
New Zealand’s parliament has voted to ban most semi-automatic weapons, less than a month after a deadly shooting attack on two mosques killed 50 people in Christchurch. New Zealand’s parliament has voted to ban military-style weapons, less than a month after mass shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch left 50 people dead and dozens wounded.
All but one MP voted in favour (119-1) of a gun reform bill after its final reading in parliament. It must receive royal assent from the governor general before it becomes law. A bill outlawing most automatic and semi-automatic weapons and components that modify existing weapons was passed by a vote of 119 to 1 in the House of Representatives after an accelerated process of debate and public submission.
Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with 50 counts of murder after the attack on 15 March. The bill needs the approval of New Zealand’s governor general, a formality, before becoming law on Friday.
“New Zealand stands apart in its widespread availability of weapons of such destructive nature and force,” the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, told parliament on Wednesday. “Today that anomaly ends.” The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, spoke emotionally during the bill’s final reading of the traumatic injuries to the victims of the attacks on 15 March, whom she had visited in hospital.
The law outlaws military-style semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles, though some semi-automatic guns will still be allowed. All of the weapons used by the Christchurch gunman will be banned. “I struggle to recall any single gunshot wounds,” Ardern said. “In every case they spoke of multiple injuries, multiple debilitating injuries that deemed it impossible for them to recover in days, let alone weeks. They will carry disabilities for a lifetime, and that’s before you consider the psychological impact. We are here for them.
Ardern said the police commissioner Mike Bush had told her shortly after the attack that the gunman had obtained his arms legally. “I could not fathom how weapons that could cause such destruction and large-scale death could be obtained legally in this country.”
“I could not fathom how weapons that could cause such destruction and large-scale death could have been obtained legally in this country. I could not fathom that,” she told parliament. Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian, has been charged with 50 counts of murder.
“I could not, hand on heart, go down and face not just the media, not just the public, but the victims that had been left behind from this terror attack and tell them, hand on heart, that our system and our laws allow these guns to be available and that was OK. Because it was not. Ardern, who has received international praise for her compassion and leadership since the shootings, was able to win rare bipartisan support for the bill, which makes it illegal to own a military-style semi-automatic rifle. The only dissenting voice was from the libertarian ACT party, which has one MP.
“I made a decision after that briefing that I would go down that day and, without having the chance to question the parliament, know that parliament would be with me. And they were.” The law includes a buyback scheme under which the owners of outlawed weapons can surrender them to police in return for compensation based on the weapon’s age and condition. Anyone who retains such a weapon after the bill passes into law faces a penalty of up to five years in prison. There are some exemptions, including for heirloom weapons held by collectors or for professional pest control.
More details soon … Ardern said lawmakers had a responsibility to act on behalf of the victims. “We are ultimately here because 50 people died and they do not have a voice,” she said. “We in this house are their voice. Today we can use that voice wisely.
“We are here just 26 days after the most devastating terrorist attacks created the darkest of days in New Zealand’s history We are here as an almost entirely united parliament. There have been very few occasions when I have seen parliament come together in this way and I cannot imagine circumstances where that is more necessary than it is now.”
Ardern said there had been some opposition from firearms owners, but that the response to the proposed legislation had been overwhelmingly positive. “My question here is simple. You either believe that here in New Zealand these weapons have a place or you do not. If you believe, like us, that they do not, you should be able to believe we can move swiftly. An argument about process is an argument to do nothing,” she said.
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