New Zealand Opens Gun Buyback Offer After Mosque Terror Attacks
New Zealand has opened a firearms buyback and amnesty in a bid to rid the nation of the sort of semi-automatic weapons.
(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand has opened a six-month firearms buyback and amnesty in a bid to rid the country of the sort of semi-automatic weapons used in the March 15 massacre that left 51 people dead.
“The buyback and amnesty has one objective: to remove the most dangerous weapons from circulation following the loss of life at Al-Noor and Linwood mosques on March 15,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said in a statement Thursday in Wellington. “The compensation scheme recognizes licensed firearms owners are now in possession of prohibited items through no fault of their own, but because of a law passed by almost the entire parliament.”
Within days of a lone gunman opening fire on worshippers at two Christchurch mosques, the worst massacre in modern New Zealand history, the government banned military style semi-automatics and assault rifles. It has allocated NZ$208 million ($136 million) for the gun buyback, NZ$40 million more than initially envisaged, it said today. That includes NZ$18 million for administration.
“There is high uncertainty around any costings, owing to the lack of information on the number of prohibited items, their type and condition,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in the statement. “Better information will be forthcoming once the buyback is underway and volumes and conditions of firearms are clearer. If we need to top up the funding we will.”
Compensation for prohibited firearms will be 95% of its base price for those in new or near-new condition, 70% for those in used condition and 25% for those in poor condition. Dealers will be compensated for stock. There are approximately 14,300 military style semi-automatics registered with police that are now all prohibited weapons. There are also more than 1.1 million rifles and shotguns in the community, most of which are not prohibited, the government estimates.
While the buyback offer begins today, Nash said collecting the guns will be a “huge logistical exercise and is expected to get underway in mid-July.”
There will be four options for collection: large-scale events at centralized community locations, handing over items at approved gun dealers, bulk pickups by police, and delivery to a police station, which is the least preferred option.
To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Brockett in Wellington at mbrockett1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Matthew Brockett at mbrockett1@bloomberg.net, Tracy Withers
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