New Zealand Gun Control Lobby Pushes Registration, Total Semiautomatic Ban

Gun Control NZ is pushing for registration of all firearms and a broadened ban against owning semiautomatic firearms.

On April 1, 2019, Breitbart News reported New Zealand’s ban on “military-style” rifles also prohibited ownership of pump shotguns, “high capacity” magazines, and certain gun parts.  These controls were enacted in response to the March 15, 2019, Christchurch attacks and RNZ reports that Gun Control NZ is already petitioning parliament to expand these controls and add new ones.

They want  a national firearm register, a requirement gun owners renew gun registration every three years, and gun prohibition expansion that would cover all semiautomatic firearms.

Hera Cook co-founded Gun Control NZ. The New Zealand Herald quotes her saying, “Parliament recently banned most semi-automatic weapons, but until there is full control of these weapons, and a register of all guns, the risk remains of them falling into the wrong hands,”

Cook says she does not believe they will be able to get rid of every gun in New Zealand, but she sees the current gun control push as a way of as creating an atmosphere  “in which people can go about their jobs happily without fear.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.