New Zealand: 56,000 guns handed over during amnesty

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The buy-back scheme was launched when authorities banned semi-automatic weapon in response to the killing of 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch.

In return for handing in the firearms, owners were compensated up to 95% of the original price of the weapons.

The programme ended on 20 December with police hailing the amnesty as a success.

“We have taken well over 50,000 of these guns out of our community. That’s got to be a good thing,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash.

However the amnesty has faced some criticism from some groups including the Council of Licensed Firearms Owners.

The group’s spokeswoman Nicole McKee told the New Zealand Herald that she believed there were 170,000 prohibited guns in the country.

Speaking about gun owners, she said: “Some of them are going to hide their firearms, some of them are protecting history and some of them – a good portion of them – don’t know what’s going on.”

On 15 March, Brenton Tarrant attacked the Al Noor mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch.

The gunman was armed with semi-automatic rifles, and is believed to have modified his weapons with high-capacity magazines so they could hold more bullets.

Navy Vet

Article URL : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50878862