New Zealand surrenders. On Wednesday, the New Zealand legislature voted 119-1 to ban semi-auto rifles based upon a single terror incident by a deranged leftist lunatic, giving the shooter exactly the kind of response he said he wanted in his rambling manifesto. Once the governor-general grants his blessing to the bill, it will take effect. Perhaps as soon as soon as this Friday.
The “good” news for gun owners, according to the bill’s proponents, is that the Kiwi government will at least pay for the guns. For a short time, anyway. Current owners will have a limited window to “sell” their guns to the government.
They like to call it a buyback, but the fact of the matter is that the government never owned these guns to begin with. It’s more accurately called partially compensated confiscation.
New Zealand’s parliament has voted almost unanimously in favor of changing the country’s gun laws, less than a month after a mass shooting left 50 people dead.
Members of parliament voted 119 to 1 in favor of the ban on military-style semi-automatic weapons Wednesday, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told lawmakers they were giving “a voice” to those killed in the Christchurch massacre.
Once the bill is granted royal assent by the country’s governor-general, it could come into force as law as soon as Friday, TVNZ reported.
The passage of the bill comes just weeks after the March 15 mass shooting at two Christchurch mosques, which Ardern described as “the darkest of days in New Zealand’s history.”
“We are ultimately here because 50 people died, and they do not have a voice,” she told parliament Wednesday. “We in this house are their voice, and today, we have used that voice wisely.”
Ben Franklin summed it up nicely: “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Obviously, the terror attack proves New Zealand’s government cannot keep its residents safe. So instead of empowering its citizens subjects, the Wellington government has has chosen to strip Kiwis of their ability to defend themselves. Makes perfect sense.
Anyone want to wager on how long before the next terror attack strikes New Zealand?