New Zealand gun buyback nets 50,000 weapons

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — More than 50,000 guns were handed over to authorities in New Zealand during a buyback programme that was implemented after lawmakers imposed a ban on assault weapons.

Police figures indicate that the government paid out just over 100 million New Zealand dollars or US$66 million to compensate owners during the six-month buyback programme, which ended at midnight.

Officials in New Zealand today predicted that their country will be a safer place because of initiative, but critics say the process was flawed and that many owners have illegally stashed their firearms.

Police Minister Stuart Nash told reporters that criminals will find it harder to get their hands on assault weapons they often steal them from lawful owners “because those weapons would now be out of circulation.”

The ban on the most lethal types of semi-automatic weapons was imposed less than a month after a lone gunman killed 51 worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch in March.

Provisional figures indicate that 33,000 people handed in 51,000 guns.

The police say another 5,000 guns were turned in as part of a parallel amnesty in which owners could hand over any type of firearm without any questions being asked, but without getting compensated.

Owners also modified another 2,700 guns to make them legally compliant, while police said they had seized a further 1,800 guns from gangs since March.

In addition, the police disclosed that they are in the process of collecting another 1,600 firearms from gun dealers.

Deputy Police Commissioner Mike Clement thanked gun owners for doing the “right thing.”

He acknowledged in a statement it had been “a difficult process for some people.”

However, Nicole McKee, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group Council of Licensed Firearms Owners, said owners had kept about two-thirds of the banned weapons because they had lost faith in the government and had not been offered adequate compensation.

“They never overcame being blamed by authorities for being somehow responsible for a heinous act of terrorism — something they would never do,” McKee said in a statement.

The ban on assault weapons was strongly backed by lawmakers in a historic 119-1 vote after the mosque attacks.

Lawmakers are now considering further restrictions, including creating a register to track all guns.

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