New Zealanders turn in more than 50,000 guns in assault weapon buyback – By Sophie Lewis (CBS News) / Dec 21 2019
New Zealand suffered one of its deadliest mass shootings nine months ago when a lone gunman killed 51 worshippers in two mosques. The government banned several semi-automatic weapons immediately after, and authorities announced Saturday that they have collected more than 50,000 guns so far.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern banned the most deadly types of military-style weapons less than a month after the attack in Christchurch. Police then launched a six-month buyback program to collect newly banned weapons from their owners — a method that was largely successful in Australia in the 1990s.
Ardern’s fast approach earned public praise and almost-unanimous bipartisan backing. The buyback period ended at midnight on Friday, but many gun collection events ran late after a surge in last-minute returns, officials said in a statement.
“Six months ago when we started the Firearms Amnesty and Buy-back, our challenge was to remove as many prohibited firearms as possible from our communities,” the New Zealand Police wrote on Facebook. “NZ Police rose to the challenge, and today we want to thank the thousands of firearms owners who have done the right thing and together helped make NZ safer.”
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