The Associated Press has this article, which is being trumpeted across a wide variety of outlet as being awesome, but, forgets a very important detail
New Zealanders hand in 50,000 guns after assault weapon ban
New Zealand authorities said Saturday their country will be a safer place after owners handed in more than 50,000 guns during a buyback program following a ban on assault weapons. But critics say the process was flawed and many owners have illegally stashed their firearms.
The government banned the most lethal types of semi-automatic weapons less than a month after a lone gunman in March killed 51 worshippers at two Christchurch mosques. The police then launched a six-month program to buy the newly banned weapons from owners.
The buyback ended midnight Friday, with gun collection events staying open late as police reported in a surge in last-minute returns.
Provisional figures indicate 33,000 people handed in 51,000 guns, and another 5,000 guns 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. And police said they’re in the process of collecting another 1,600 guns from gun dealers.
Police Minister Stuart Nash told reporters Saturday that criminals would find it harder to get their hands on assault weapons because they tended to steal them from lawful owners, but those weapons would now be out of circulation.
Remember, New Zealand banned most semi-automatic guns, not just the scary looking assault weapons. Handguns and regular rifles above .22 caliber are banned. My Walther P22 would be OK, my Walther P9, which is 9mm, would be illegal.
The thing is, it’s interesting that the Police Minister is lauding the fact that law abiding citizens are having to turn in their property because a criminal could steal it, but, about that thing the AP forgot?
But nobody has a clear target for the program because authorities haven’t kept track of the number of guns in the country.
Tentative estimates put the total number of guns in New Zealand at about 1.5 million and the number of weapons that are now banned at up to 175,000. If those numbers are correct, it would mean less than 10% of the banned weapons have been handed in so far. Owners have until Dec. 20 to turn them over or potentially face charges.
The thing is, that number of what is potentially banned is a pure guess. Another guess is 500,000 which do not comply with the law. No one knows. There are surely a lot of handguns and rifles that do not comply. If the rest are shotguns and small caliber handguns and rifles, thieves will just steal them. And people will just purchase large caliber revolvers. So, 50,000 is a fail. Just like when Australia did a similar type ban.
