Christchurch terror: Kiwis turn in guns ahead of arms law reform

Jacinda Ardern has vowed never to utter the name of the Australian gunman charged with the terror attack that killed 50 people.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to the house at Parliament today.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, vowing never to utter the name of the Australian gunman charged with the terror attack that killed 50 people, promised grieving New Zealanders he will face the “full force of the law”.

“He will face the full force of the law in New Zealand,” Ms Ardern told a speci-al session of parliament, which she opened with the Arabic greeting “as salaam aleikum” (peace be upon you).

“He sought many things from his act of terror, but one was notoriety — that is why you will never hear me mention his name,” she said. “He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless.”

.@jacindaardern: One of the roles I never anticipated having, and hoped never to have, is to voice the grief of a nation … Our hearts are heavy, but our spirit is strong.

MORE: https://t.co/1cmKATe3z0 #newsday pic.twitter.com/Lt103Thw3C

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) March 19, 2019

Her speech came as New Zealanders began to voluntarily hand over their semiautomatic guns as the government prepares to overhaul gun laws after the Christchurch mosque massacre.

Ms Ardern has called on gun owners to consider returning their weapons after the terror attack that killed 50.

She has pledged to implement the changes before next week’s cabinet meeting, with the support of her coalition partner, New Zealand First.

“If anyone has a weapon that either they should not be in possession of, or they have concern over the events of Friday, they are welcome at any time to surrender that weapon to police,” Ms Ardern told reporters.

Questions have been raised about the availability of military-style semiautomatic rifles in New Zealand with Brenton Tarrant, charged over the mass shooting, allegedly having used two of the weapons, legally bought, in the attack, along with three other guns.

Farmer John Hart, who has owned one of the semiautomatic weapons for a decade said he had turned his over to police.

“Once I came to the realisation that any convenience or utility I may have having it around the farm is far outweighed by the risk it poses just by existing . the only way I could go forward with a clear conscience was to not have it,” he told Radio NZ.

“We don’t need these in our country,” he posted on social media.

Ahead of the government’s announcement next week of details of the new gun laws, Finance Minister Grant Robertson said he was considering a gun buyback scheme and had been looking into Australia’s experience for help, after their successful buyback in the late 1990s.

“Certainly we’re working on that very idea right now,” he told reporters in Wellington.

New Zealand does not have a comprehensive gun registration system, also allowing military-style assault rifles to be sold to accredite­d licence holders.

Tarrant is believed to have carried five guns, legally bought with a licence, and then later illegally modified — an issue also being looked into by cabinet.

The owner of Gun City, a countrywide franchise with a large store in Christchurch, said the store had sold him four guns and ammunition through a police-verified online mail order process. David Tipple said the process had detected nothing extraordinary about the buyer and none of the guns sold to him were the Milit­ary Style Semi Automatic (MSSA) weapons, which had allegedly­ contributed dramatically to the death toll.

However it is believed that Tarrant illegally modified the guns with large magazines to become MSSAs.

There are an estimated 1.5 million firearms in New Zealand — roughly one for every three citizens and more than double the rate in Australia. There’s no restriction on the number of guns or quantity of ammunition a licensed gun owner can have and pest control is legally considered a reason to own a military-style semiautomatic weapon.

The country’s biggest gun show, the Kumeu Militaria event, has been cancelled out of respect for victims and security concerns.

Trademe, New Zealand’s answer to eBay, said it would halt the sale of semiautomatic weapons while awaiting answers from the government.

AFP, AAP