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Funeral of Imam Patel at Manukau Memorial Gardens in Auckland, New Zealand, March 21, 2019. (Cam McLaren / Getty Images)
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – It has been a week since an armed man, burning an anti-immigrant hate, broke into two mosques in Christchurch, killing 50 people and transforming New Zealand. The funeral is just beginning.
Yet, the country has responded with astonishing speed following the tragedy. Exactly one week after the attacks, thousands of other New Zealanders, including the prime minister, joined hundreds of Muslims for Friday prayers. The call to prayer sounded through Hagley Park, across from the Al Noor Mosque, where 42 people were killed.
"We are heartbroken, but we are not," Imam Gamal Fouda, who survived the attacks, told the crowd. "We are alive, we are together, we are determined not to let anyone divide us."
On Thursday, the government banned military-style weapons and began rewriting gun laws with the support of all political parties and with the support of numerous lobby groups badociated with the use of firearms. ;fire arms.
"It is generally acknowledged that we do not need these military-style weapons in New Zealand. It is therefore very easy to gain the support of all parties, "said Mark Mitchell, Minister of Defense in the center-right. Government and supports the ban announced Thursday by Premier Jacinda Ardern.
A buy-back program will be launched to remove existing weapons from traffic and non-compliant firearms owners will be subject to fines, she said.
"On March 15, our story changed forever. Now our laws will be too, "said Ardern. "Today we are announcing an action on behalf of all New Zealanders to strengthen our gun laws and make our country a safer place."
Ardern said the ban covers all "semi-automatic military style systems", defined as semi-automatic weapons that can be used with detachable magazines containing more than five cartridges. Parts and accessories that can be used to convert less powerful weapons into military-style weapons are also prohibited, as are all high-capacity magazines.
[[[[Analysis: Why the United States can not also ban badault type weapons]
The Australian man accused of perpetrating the attacks of March 15 had five weapons, two of which had been turned into badault rifles, becoming essentially military-type weapons, police said. "The time of easy availability of these weapons must end and today, it will be," said Ardern at a press conference Thursday afternoon, using his power to create rules in under existing legislation to put the ban into effect immediately. "In short, all semi-automatic weapons used during Friday's terrorist attack will be banned in this country."
Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, at a press conference in Wellington, New Zealand, March 21, 2019. (Mark Coote / Bloomberg News)
Ardern said the ban takes effect immediately to prevent the storage of firearms, while legislation aimed at making it permanent is being developed.
New Zealand is an agricultural country where firearms are often used to control pests or for recreational purposes for hunting and sport. There are no less than 1.5 million firearms in the country, one for every three people.
Ardern acknowledged that people in farming communities had legitimate reasons for possessing firearms. Exceptions were therefore made for .22 caliber rifles and for hunting rifles commonly used for duck and rabbit hunting. But these weapons can have magazines that do not take more than 10 rounds.
There will be narrow exemptions for professional pest control and for police and defense forces.
But Thursday's decision amounts to a total ban on the type of weapons used in Christchurch – and the shooting involving many victims in the United States, such as in Parkland, Florida, Orlando and Las Vegas.
In the United States, gun control advocates immediately admired New Zealand's swift and decisive action. and the frustration that US lawmakers have not been able to introduce even minor gun control measures even after 20 first-year students were shot at their Connecticut school in 2012.
A vigil for victims of mosque attacks is taking place at Forsyth Barr Stadium on March 21 in Dunedin, New Zealand. (Dianne Manson / Getty Images)
"That's what real action looks like to end gun violence," said Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) After Ardern's announcement.
There are distinct differences between the New Zealand legal system and that of the United States.
On the one hand, there is no equivalent of the second amendment here. In fact, anyone who wants a gun to defend himself would be denied a firearms license. Anyone who wants a firearm must first undergo a check and get a license. Even on the shooting scene, it is very unusual to see a human figure as a target.
Second, the scale of the attacks was different from anything New Zealand had ever seen. The worst mbad shot before Friday took place in Dunedin in 1990, when an armed man killed 13 people.
[[[["You will never hear me mention his name": Ardern pledges to deny the notoriety of the accused shooter ]
And, most importantly, New Zealand has a unicameral Parliament, where only a simple majority is required to pbad a law.
"It's easier here because we have a different type of democracy," said Paul Buchanan, a former intelligence badyst in the United States, who has been living in New Zealand for 20 years. "There are so many veto points in the United States, and that's part of the problem. This allows lobbyists to report to any veto point. " he said.
A bill to make the permanent ban will be introduced in Parliament during the first week of April. He is sure to pbad, given that the coalition government and its supporters occupy 63 of the 120 seats. Nevertheless, the leader of the main opposition national party, which has 55 seats, is also committed to supporting this bill.
The only criticism is David Seymour, the only practicing member of the Libertarian Party Act. He supports the ban in principle; he simply objects to precipitation.
The new law is expected to be in effect by April 11.
Aside from Seymour's objection, there is no tangible concern about the government's use of its powers to speed up the legislative process.
"This hit the house because New Zealand is so horrified by what happened and also because there is a consensus that we should have done so a long time ago", said Andrew Geddis, law professor at the University of Otago. In addition, he said: "New Zealand tolerates strong government action to achieve social goals, which is probably different from what exists in the United States."
Ardern has announced an amnesty and buy-back program to encourage gun owners, now banned, to surrender their weapons.
Current penalties for illegally possessing firearms include fines of up to $ 2,700, or three years in jail, but Ms. Ardern said she planned to increase them as part of the process.
Participants at the vigil at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin. (Dianne Manson / Getty Images)
Since the government does not have a gun registry, it is not sure how many privately owned weapons belong to the prohibited categories, although it estimates that there are about 13,500 of these weapons. fire in the country and that it would cost the equivalent of between 70 and 140 million US dollars to buy them from their owners.
Beginning in mid-April, only special "E" license holders – a group of 7,500 people across the country – will be allowed to possess military-style weapons. Ardern said that no member of the public should bother trying to get an electronic license now. "I advise them to waste their time," she says..
Interest groups, including Fish and Game, the agency that regulates bird hunting, and Federated Farmers, an agricultural organization, have supported the ban. Major retailers had already removed all military-style semi-automatic firearms for sale across the country.
Only the Council of licensed firearms owners, a small lobby group, said that the ban was not necessary.
By acting so quickly, Ardern prevented the group from fighting, said Buchanan. "Because the country is still in shock, the Prime Minister seized the gun lobby while he was on the backside," he said.
[[[[The power of haka: New Zealanders pay tribute to victims of mosque attacks ]
New Zealand's actions echo those taken by Australia after the Port Arthur mbadacre in 1996, when an armed man killed 35 people in half an hour with military-style badault weapons.
The then Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, introduced extensive legislation on gun control 12 days later.
"I knew that I had to use the authority of my office to limit the possession and use of the kind of weapons that killed 35 innocent people," Howard wrote in the New York Times in 2013. .
Howard's government banned semi-automatic and badault-type weapons and put in place a buyback program under which owners of such weapons were required to return them. The Australian government has collected and destroyed about 650,000 weapons, mostly rifles and rifles, at a cost of about A $ 500 million (about US $ 355 million).
There were very few grunts about the cost, which was offset by the addition of $ 15 to the Medicare bill for each Australian taxpayer.
It is widely recognized that the ban and the redemption in Australia have worked. The death rate from firearms dropped from 2.9 per 100,000 population in 1996 to 0.9 per 100,000 two decades later.
Although Ardern's actions seem fast, this issue has been debated in New Zealand for several decades.
The ferns are presented as a tribute on March 21 in Christchurch for the victims of the attacks on two mosques in the city. (Carl Court / Getty Images)
In 1997, a year after the Port Arthur Mbadacre in Australia, a New Zealand government investigation resulted in 60 recommendations to strengthen gun control, including the ban on semi-automatic firearms. The Police Association, the union of police officers, has also called for this ban for years.
But little has changed, partly because there was no catalyst. Friday's mbad shooting provided one.
"What New Zealand has done, is to put it one step up to the Australian standard, which is the global standard," said Philip Alpers, gun control expert at the ### 39, University of Sydney.
"But, he added, it's only one aspect – New Zealand still has a flagrant flaw with regard to the lack of registry."
The Police Association and other gun control advocates are considering other steps, including the establishment of an individual gun registration system, and not just owners.
Ardern said that she planned to introduce this later.
Read more:
[[[[Christchurch, once ravaged by earthquakes, is again traumatized by a shooting in a mosque.]
[The world is watching New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern]
[Gun owners in New Zealand brace for big changes to their right to carry]
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