A ban on assault rifles in NZ, and a buyback.

New Zealand to Ban Military-Style Semiautomatic Guns, Jacinda Ardern Says

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand on Thursday announced a national ban on all military-style semiautomatic weapons, all high-capacity ammunition magazines and all parts that allow weapons to be modified into the kinds of guns used to kill 50 people at two mosques in Christchurch last week.

“What we’re banning today are the things used in last Friday’s attack,” she said, adding: “It’s about all of us, it’s in the national interest and it’s about safety.”

Ms. Ardern is expected to encounter little resistance to the weapons ban in Parliament; the largest opposition party quickly said it supported the measures.

Ms. Ardern said her goal was to eliminate from New Zealand the weapons that the killer used in Christchurch. 

She emphasized that it would require a buyback of banned weapons in circulation now, plus regulation around firearms and ammunition.

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Chris Cahill, the president of the Police Association, the union representing New Zealand’s police officers, praised Ms. Ardern’s plan, saying that his group had been calling for such measures for years.

“This addresses the key concerns we have,” he said. 

“It’s hitting those military-style semiautomatics. It’s exactly what we wanted.”