Only 18 percent of newly prohibited firearms were surrendered to New Zealand police as of October 31, 2019.
MSN reports approximately 32,000 of roughly 175,000 such firearms have been handed over.
The prohibited firearms–including “military-style semiautomatics” and various pump shotguns, among others–were outlawed following the March 15, 2019, attack in Christchurch.
“High Capacity” magazines and certain gun parts were also banned and must be surrendered as well. The New Zealand government reports over “120,000 prohibited parts such as high-capacity magazines have been handed in.”
The Hon. Stuart Nash, Minister of Police, is urging the owners of the remaining banned firearms to surrender them. He said, “The clock is ticking on the last opportunity to receive payment for prohibited firearms and parts, or to hand over unwanted or unlawful guns without fear of prosecution under the amnesty. The process ends on Friday 20 December.”
Nash also took time to point out that the firearms of law-abiding owners are also demanded as part of a larger effort to fight terrorist attacks.
He said, “Lawful firearms owners did nothing wrong but the law changed and they found themselves with prohibited weapons. This was never aimed at them but was designed to stop another terror attack like that on 15 March.”
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.
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