New Zealanders Rebel Against Government’s Gun Ban

Despite laurels from liberals in the United States, gun laws designed to stop mass shootings in New Zealand already are proving to be massive failures. In particular, formerly law-abiding New Zealanders are ignoring recently imposed national law requiring them to surrender military-style, semi-automatic rifles and similar firearms.

Specifically, they must surrender their semi-automatic rifles or shotguns capable of using a detachable magazine holding more than five rounds. New Zealand also banned bump stocks and other accessories that the government says converts standard firearms into military-style weapons.

The problem with that new law is, almost no one is complying with it.

Gun owners in New Zealand, seemingly have a lot of similarities to those of us who support our Second Amendment in the U.S. –they do not like to surrender their best self-defense mechanisms.

That is particularly true in areas where police and other first-responders often are several minutes or more away. By the time great bodily harm or worse occurs, the event typically has ended, long before the police arrive. That means innocent people are at the mercy of criminals intent on doing bad things when the government declares perfectly safe firearms to be illegal and potential threats to public safety.

And that is what gun hating politicians like Elizabeth Warren, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden want to do in the United States.

Six days after an Australian terrorist gunned down innocent worshippers in a lone-wolf attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced radical gun law reforms. Those included a mandatory gun buyback program after the nation’s liberal parliament banned ownership and sales of military-style, semiautomatic firearms.

With the warm and fuzzy feelings flowing less than a week after the horrific attacks, liberals in the United States lauded New Zealand for its swift action. Controversial Democrat mouthpiece Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declared the knee-jerk laws as “what leadership looks like.”

How she would know is a mystery, but she applauded Prime Minister Ardern and the nation’s Parliament. The New York Times soon after cited the knee-jerk legislation as a shining example of how to address mass shootings in the United States.

Yet, less than six months after the laws took effect, only about 700 rifles have been turned in. That means the vast majority of the nation’s estimated 1.5 million firearms remain in civilian hands. The buyback program is a complete failure, and leaders of prominent street gangs have announced they absolutely will not surrender their arms.

The abject failure of New Zealand’s gun ban is particularly striking when taking into account the nation does not have a right to bear arms. Unlike U.S. citizens protected by the Second Amendment, New Zealanders are at the mercy of their federal and local governments when it comes to enacting gun laws. When political expediency overrules common sense, bad legislation can turn law abiding gun owners into literal criminals.

Fortunately for reluctant gun owners in New Zealand, the nation never had a gun registration program. That makes it virtually impossible to know where the estimated 1.5 million non-conforming firearms are located, and police resources likely will not be used to track them down.

With the Second Amendment firmly in place, but often under attack, U.S. gun owners can seek solace in their Constitutional right to bear arms. Even better, we do not have a gun registration system, either.

As New Zealand’s formerly law-abiding gun owners affirm – gun registration systems only enable future confiscation programs. Without them, gun confiscation becomes much more difficult, and downright ineffective toward thwarting actual criminal activity.