New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced that all military-grade automatic weapons will be banned across the country, in response to the recent massacre at two Christchurch mosques where fifty people were killed by gunfire.
An estimated 1.2 million guns are in circulation in New Zealand. Owners of legally held automatic weapons will now be given a deadline to hand the guns back to the authorities, who are said to be implementing a buy-back scheme.
The perpetrator of the March 15 massacre was identified as 28-year-old Australian-born man Brenton Harrison Tarrant. He faces multiple charges of murder.