New Zealand begins gun buyback after mosque shootings
Hundreds of New Zealand gun owners have surrendered their weapons in exchange for cash — the first of many gun buybacks in the country after the deadly Christchurch mosque shootings.
More than $669,000 worth of now-banned weapons were handed over by 378 owners during the government’s first gun buyback program this weekend, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Those weapons will be destroyed.
“I want to repeat my praise for both police and firearms owners who made this happen,” New Zealand Police Minister Stuart Nash said Sunday.
The country swiftly voted to outlaw military-style semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles after a gunman massacred 51 people at two mosques on March 15.
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced the legislation just six days after the deadly shootings which left dozens more injured, and it passed almost unanimously in parliament three weeks later.
Neighboring nation Australia instituted a similar gun buyback scheme in 1996 after a gunman opened fire, killing 35 people in the worst mass-murder in the country’s history.
The Australian government also banned semi-automatic and other military style-weapons — offering a generous buyback program to people who surrendered their guns.
About 650,000 legally-owned guns were destroyed.
There are an estimated 14,000 people licensed to hold semi-automatic guns in New Zealand and the government has allocated NZ$208 million ($139 million) for the buyback, ABC reported.
More than 258 buyback events will be held around the country, home to just 5 million people, over the next three months.
Owners will have until Dec. 20 to hand in their weapons.
Gunman Brenton Tarrant pleaded not guilty last month to 51 charges of murder, 40 charges of attempted murder and one terrorism charge.
Prior to the killings, which were livestreamed on Facebook, Tarrant posted a far-right screed online that laid out his desire to “incite violence” against Muslim people.
He faces a maximum of life in prison for the terror charge alone.
Click Here: toulon rugby shop melbourne