New Zealand Seems To Embrace Coming Gun Control Regulations

AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File

It’s not surprising, but New Zealand looks to be getting still more gun control. Now, the country already had some pretty tight regulations to start with, but nope. It didn’t stop a terrorist maniac, so now it’s going to impose more regulations on the people of New Zealand.

Advertisement

It looks like it’s going to happen.

The New Zealand leader’s promise of tightened gun laws in the wake of the Christchurch mosque shootings has been widely welcomed by a stunned population.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her Cabinet will consider the details of the changes on Monday. She has said options include a ban on private ownership of semi-automatic rifles that were used with devastating effect in Christchurch and a government-funded buyback of newly outlawed guns.

While curtailing gun owners’ rights is a political battleground in the United States, Christchurch gun owner Max Roberts, 22, predicted Ardern won’t face serious opposition to her agenda.

“There will be no opposition to it. There’s no movement in New Zealand for that. Our media and politics are more left wing,” said Roberts, a carpenter who uses guns for hunting.

In other words, New Zealand’s gun owners have been beaten down to the point that they won’t offer up any real opposition.

It seems that while many are flocking to gun stores to buy guns in advance of new regulations, they’re also seemingly onboard with more laws. It’s nothing at all like gun owners in the United States.

Advertisement

Carol Pomana feels slightly uncomfortable about shopping for guns just days after the Christchurch terrorist attack on two mosques that left 50 people dead and dozens more injured.

“In some ways, I feel like it’s inappropriate because of what’s happened,” she said.

However, she believes change is coming as the New Zealand Cabinet meets on Monday to discuss tighter gun regulations.

“That’s why we’re here today,” she said, after emerging from Christchurch’s Gun City store.

“It’s just being realistic.”

Even though a crackdown could affect her ability to own guns, she believes stronger laws are justified.

“It’s just too easy [to get a licence],” she said.

While there are a handful of gun owners here in the States who would take that position, they represent a distinct minority of the gun community. That’s not the case in New Zealand where there appears to be no stiff opposition to the coming gun control laws.

And that’s the problem.

When there’s no opposition to speak of, gun rights are eroded. New Zealand’s gun laws aren’t responsible for what happened. A demented whackjob who thought the problem with this planet was there were too many non-white people was responsible for what took place.

Advertisement

Even though law-abiding gun owners aren’t to blame, they may well end up penalized by the government.

This erosion of rights is what happens when you don’t have a strong pro-gun group like the National Rifle Association around. It’s also why anti-gunners in this country are trying so hard to destroy the organization. They know they’ll never be able to enact gun control like New Zealand is looking at without removing their biggest obstacle.

But the NRA, and we, aren’t going anywhere. Americans aren’t New Zealanders. We’re not rolling over.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member