New Zealand gun laws face scrutiny after Christchurch attack

[brooklynite]

The Guardian

The toll of 49 dead and more injured in mass shootings at two New Zealand mosques will put renewed scrutiny on New Zealand’s gun laws – particularly the debate over restrictions on military-style rifles and high-capacity magazines, which are frequently used in mass shooting attacks worldwide.

Civilians in New Zealand own an estimated 1.2m firearms, according to the 2017 Small Arms Survey. That makes New Zealand’s per capita rate of gun ownership higher than Australia’s, but still far below the US, where there is more than one gun per person in civilian ownership.

The Christchurch shootings highlight “the disparity between New Zealand gun laws and those of other developed nations”, said Philip Alpers, an Australian researcher and the founding director of GunPolicy.org, which tracks gun laws worldwide.

Unlike the UK and Australia, New Zealand does not ban the ownership of semi-automatic military-style assault weapons. Most guns can be legally sold on the internet or through newspaper ads. Any person aged 16 or over with an entry-level firearm licence can keep any number of common rifles and shotguns without having to register them.

When I visited New Zealand six years ago, they had -no- security checks on domestic flights (I recall someone sitting next to me pulling out a litre bottle of vodka after takeoff). The theory seemed to be that nobody would do anything violent IN New Zealand and it was too far away to try to hijack a plane elsewhere.

[watoos]

1. The NRA is going to have to open up a branch office.

[Amishman]

2. That article is not accurate. NZ has strict laws through its tiered license system

They have different licenses for different types of guns, including a very strict type E license for military style guns.

They also have a seven round limit on clips

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_New_Zealand

[sir pball]

3. From the article, it's NOT a "military-style" gun if it has a 7rd mag:

A Category firearms are those that do not fall into any other category, and are the vast majority of legally-owned firearms in New Zealand, and support a surprisingly wide number of types. For example semi-automatic AR-15 style rifles are permitted in this category provided they can only hold 7 or less rounds as well as meeting the other criteria.

So, any yahoo with a basic license can pick up an AR so long as it only has 7 round mags. One of my old chefs is a Kiwi, he most definitely owns a few back home.