In the wake of the Mosque massacres in Christchurch, New Zealand, the government acted quickly to ban most semi-automatic firearms in the nation. The ban is apparently work as most critics expected, with only 530 guns turned in, despite the fact that officials believe that the number of now-illegal weapons could be nearly 300,000.
Nicole McKee, Secretary of the Council of Licensed Firearm Owners, told Heather du Plessis-Allan that there had not been any communication from Government about prices for the buyback.
"If they are being serious about their considerations and ensuring that there is fair and reasonable compensation, then firearm owners will wait a bit longer to make sure it is just and it is fair when it is received."
She said that people were likely to still be considering if they would claim their firearms as heirlooms or sell them to collectors.
McKee expected most people would comply with the laws, but she said that there was no trust in the system whatsoever among firearms owners, and that people felt blindsided and blamed.
"We are effectively being punished for the acts of a foreign terrorist, and we want to make sure that our personal and private property is adequately compensated when it is confiscated."
Even if "most" owners of now-illegal firearms eventually turn them in for compensation, there are likely to be tens of thousands of guns that gun-owners will claim were lost in tragic boating accidents.
Like many Democrats in America would like to occur in the United States, this sort of mass confiscation only works to take guns out of the hands of those least likely to ever have them used for any sort of criminality.
It is unlikely New Zealand will experience another mass shooting like the one that prompted this gun ban in the next couple of decades, simply based upon the normal frequency at which these sorts of things are occurring and the relatively small population of that island nation. Officials will take little notice, however, if more common, violent crimes increase because people are unable to defend themselves.
