Assault rifles and military-style semi-automatics have been banned in New Zealand

[Lord-Jaffa]

“In short every semi-automatic weapon used in the terrorist attack on Friday will be banned in this country,” said Ardern.

“I absolutely believe there will be a common view amongst New Zealanders, those who use guns for legitimate purposes, and those who have never touched one, that the time for the mass and easy availability of these weapons must end. And today they will,” said Ardern.

The ban on the sale of the weapons came into effect at 3pm on Thursday – the time of the press conference announcing the ban – with the prime minister warning that “all sales should now cease” of the weapons.

The Government has fallen short of banning all semi-automatic weapons, acknowledging that a number of low calibre semi-automatic weapons were vital in New Zealand's pest control efforts.
“We have also acknowledged that some guns serve legitimate purposes in our farming communities, and have therefore set out exemptions for 0.22 calibre rifles and shotguns commonly used for duck hunting. These will have limitations around their capacity," said Police Minister Stuart Nash.

By way of background, both .22 calibre and those types of shotguns are lower calibre staples in most farmers' gun cabinets, and are widely used in smaller pest and game control, like Rabbits and Ducks. (source: here)

I can see this getting a lot of support and although the challenges in drafting workable legislation in such a tight timeframe will be a complex issue, this feels like a positive step.

Wonder if the posters in the other thread who called @ianh stupid for saying pest control wasn't a legitimate reason for gun ownership would apologise to him now? @Greebo @Psycho Sonny @Zethor

If we keep chipping away at civil liberties and personal freedoms at this rate I expect to be living in demolition man in the next 50 years, have a joy joy day.

 

[Rroff]

I like how your fudging history in an attempt to back up your agenda.
Untrained civilians? Really is that what you are going with?

Most of those are very mixed scenarios with as much untrained civilians as those that for instance have support and/or training from the CIA or Russia, etc. but then amongst the US population there are huge numbers of military veterans and who knows what kind of support they might or might not get. The point is that even with the disparity in hardware it isn't as simple as having high end military hardware = winning let alone quick and decisive victories - in some countries armed militias have held out for decades in parts of the country despite the government having tanks and helicopters, etc.

If we keep chipping away at civil liberties and personal freedoms at this rate I expect to be living in demolition man in the next 50 years, have a joy joy day.

There is a fine balance to it - gun control generally I'm in favour of but at the same time it is often driven by fiercely anti-gun people based on a unreasoned aversion to them (and that isn't to say it isn't without merit). There are many many people who enjoy firearms in a purely recreational capacity whose interests can be catered for, without significant risk to the wider population, without going to the measures some push for.

 

[jsmoke]

Jordan Petersons 12 Rules For Life has been removed from a well known NZ book store (Whitcoulls) because of links to the shooting yet they still have Hitlers Mein Kampf on their shelves.

Censorship knows no bounds...

Shirley you can get anything on the net these days?

 

[VincentHanna]

Jordan Petersons 12 Rules For Life has been removed from a well known NZ book store (Whitcoulls) because of links to the shooting yet they still have Hitlers Mein Kampf on their shelves.

Censorship knows no bounds...

Have you considered that this was undertaken by the bookstore less than a week after the attack in deference to the victims?

Mein Kampf, written 94 years ago isn't going to upset the families of people that were murdered recently.

 

[Dis86]

Have you considered that this was undertaken by the bookstore less than a week after the attack in deference to the victims?

Mein Kampf, written 94 years ago isn't going to upset the families of people that were murdered recently.

Dunno like, it's a favourite of right wing nutjobs.

Out of curiosity, how many places removed copies of the quran after one of the numerous islamic attacks throughout the world?

 

[VincentHanna]

Dunno like, it's a favourite of right wing nutjobs.

No, but the terrorist didn't cite it in his manifesto (apparently, I've not read it)

 

[NickK]

Casualties are number of shots, the likelihood of each shot being lethal and how easily available they are.

A ban is good for many reasons. It doesn't mean legislation will not change to adapt for real uses such as vermin control or sporting.

After all you could apply for a shotgun licence here with a couple of checks to hold a gun at home. A check on the storage, a check with the doctor for mental issues and police records check is pretty much it. The shotgun licence here limits any held shotgun to a maximum of 3 shots (manual or semi auto) without reloading. Beyond that it's a firearms certificate and a far more involved process.
It will be interesting to see how they change policy to support sport shooting for example.

The normal pro-arm-eveyone is that having a gun in an unarmed population leaves the event unchallenged vs any member of the population challenging back. The reality here is that it assumes that gun owners are essentially policing the incident and have the required training to solve the problem with out further loss of life.

 

[Dis86]

No, but the terrorist didn't cite it in his manifesto (apparently, I've not read it)

Pretty sure people have in the past - think Breivik might have for example. Just seems to be a bit of a knee-jerk reaction and we all know where the banning of books leads.

 

[ianh]

Wonder if the posters in the other thread who called @ianh stupid for saying pest control wasn't a legitimate reason for gun ownership would apologise to him now?

I had a good discussion with greebo (was a misunderstanding) but I don't think psycho_sonny's opinion (calling me a mentalist over pest control) or Zethors will have changed, regardless of how much I (or the NZ government in this case) agree/disagree with them and, TBH it's OK that people have differing opinions, although it'd be nice not to be called names over them

 

[Deluxe1]

People in NZ are getting locked up for sharing the video, books banned, rifles banned yet what's happening with facebook which was the source of the video?

 

[Rroff]

The normal pro-arm-eveyone is that having a gun in an unarmed population leaves the event unchallenged vs any member of the population challenging back. The reality here is that it assumes that gun owners are essentially policing the incident and have the required training to solve the problem with out further loss of life.

Yeah - someone armed trying to react to these situations is most likely to freeze up, uncommitted or at a disadvantage mentally as they will be trying to process what is going on while the shooter already knows and/or potentially doesn't care who they are shooting at or will react badly and hit bystanders themselves or cause further confusion to law enforcement trying to work out who the criminal is.

People in NZ are getting locked up for sharing the video, books banned, rifles banned yet what's happening with facebook which was the source of the video?

Why would anything happen to Facebook? they weren't complicit with it and as far as the details go appear to have taken steps to deal with it within a reasonable time.

 

[The_Abyss]

Good on NZ for acting sensibly and so quickly. There can be very few reasons for 99% of people to claim to need a firearm these days, let alone a semi auto.

 

[Lord-Jaffa]

Good on NZ for acting sensibly and so quickly. There can be very few reasons for 99% of people to claim to need a firearm these days, let alone a semi auto.

Almost all hand guns are semi automatic. Are you aware of that?

 

[VincentHanna]

Almost all hand guns are semi automatic. Are you aware of that?

Pedantic

He clearly means rifles.

 

[The_Abyss]

Almost all hand guns are semi automatic. Are you aware of that?

Yes. That's what the thread is talking about, it is helpfully in the thread title.

 

[Greebo]

Wonder if the posters in the other thread who called @ianh stupid for saying pest control wasn't a legitimate reason for gun ownership would apologise to him now? @Greebo @Psycho Sonny @Zethor

If we keep chipping away at civil liberties and personal freedoms at this rate I expect to be living in demolition man in the next 50 years, have a joy joy day.

Apologise for what? Nowhere in that article you linked does it say pest controllers need military style automatic and semi automatic weapons? Which was all i claimed.

 

[ianh]

I think non-firearm experienced folks would be extremely surprised to find out just how many legal uses they have which is why I find claims such as "99% don't need them" so unsurprising.

Apologise for what? Nowhere in that article you linked does it say pest controllers need military style automatic and semi automatic weapons? Which was all i claimed.

I think I cleared that up in my reply to him, I though we had a good discussion myself.

 

[VincentHanna]

I think non-firearm experienced folks would be extremely surprised to find out just how many legal uses they have

And in New Zealand they would be useful for?

 

[Lord-Jaffa]

Pedantic

He clearly means rifles.

It isn't pedantic, suggesting semi automatics are more dangerous than guns and should be banned, when they have no idea what they talking about. Most all guns are semi automatic. People are advocating for something when they dont know what they are talking about. It's very relevant indeed, being so against something you haven't any idea about, sounds like a recipe for a well thought out balanced viewpoint.

 

[The_Abyss]

I think non-firearm experienced folks would be extremely surprised to find out just how many legal uses they have which is why I find claims such as "99% don't need them" so unsurprising.

I'll bite. Please enlighten us on all the uses that people have for semi-automatic weapons. Feel free to leave out the 'I like them' or 'Why shouldn't I be allowed to have them' reasons.