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NZ buys back 10000 firearms after Christchurch attack

August 13, 2019 14:04·
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's government set aside about $100 million to purchase to weapons when they pushed through legislation in April to ban military-style semi-automatic weapons

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's government set aside about $100 million to purchase to weapons when they pushed through legislation in April to ban military-style semi-automatic weapons

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 April. Another 1,269 firearms have been turned in under an amnesty provision, per the Guardian. Owners aren't paid for weapons if the amnesty provision is invoked, per NPR.

Gun owners in New Zealand have handed over more than 10,000 firearms to law enforcement officials less than a month after the government launched a gun buyback program in response to the Christchurch mosque shootings.

Following the killing of 51 people in two inner-city Christchurch mosques by an Australian white supremacist, prime minister Jacinda Ardern's government rushed through legislation to ban military-style semi-automatic weapons and set aside NZ$150m to buy firearms that were now illegal. New Zealand's Council of Licensed Firearms Owners responded to the country's reforms with a campaign of its own, "to balance the debate and to stop undue restrictions on firearms owners". This means there are no firm figures on how many weapons are in the country, with estimates varying between 1.2 million and 1.5 million.

"We expected, based on what the Australians told us of their own [gun buyback] experience in the mid-1990s, that we would get a surge at the start, a lull in the middle, then another surge at the end", Deputy Commissioner Clement said.

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Gun owners receive 95 percent of a "fair market value" for weapons in new or near-new condition, 70 percent for those in average condition, and 25 percent for those in poor condition.

Some owners gave up their guns after the March 15 shooting, disturbed by the attacks.

"People are quite upset that they have been targeted when the people who are illegally in possession, and committing crimes with firearms, haven't been targeted", McKee told The New York Times last month.

"We are confident as a government that the vast majority of New Zealanders will support this change", she said.

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