Uh oh. News is starting to leak out — despite all the happy crappy from the mainstream media about 54,000 guns confiscated — that the New Zealand “buyback” was a big failure. At least two-thirds (probably closer to 75%) of the newly outlawed guns were not actually turned in.
It seems an awful lot of Kiwi gun owners chose not to participate in PM Jacinda Ardern’s opportunistic gun-grab following the mosque shootings earlier this year.
Authorities are calling it a success, but it’s not clear how many of these guns were owned by the public. And by the estimate of one New Zealand advocacy group, about two-thirds of the banned guns were not turned in, despite owners now facing up to five years in prison with the amnesty period closing.
“It’s not a number to be boasting about. It’s not successful,” Nicole McKee, spokeswoman for the gun group Council of Licensed Firearms Owners, told reporters. …
“Despite our best efforts to encourage compliance, we know owners have been so disappointed by the settings of the ban and its poor implementation that many can’t bring themselves to comply,” McKee said.
– Tim Marcin in New Zealand’s Gun Buyback Might Not Have Gone So Well