New Zealand: Swift Action on Gun Control Leads to Mixed Results
By Dominick Cortez
I. Introduction
In the afternoon of Friday, March 15, 2019, Christchurch saw the worst mass shooting in the history of New Zealand. Brenton Tarrant, an Australian national living in New Zealand, began live streaming to Facebook from a helmet-mounted camera at around 1:30 PM. He pulled into Al Noor Mosque during Friday prayer and removed a gun from the trunk of his car. Tarrant entered the mosque and opened fire. Forty-two people were killed. The killer then went back to his vehicle and drove to Linwood Islamic Centre. Upon arrival, he began opening fire on the crowd and was eventually chased away by Abdul Aziz who picked up the killer’s discarded shotgun. Mr. Aziz chased the shooter back to his vehicle and threw the gun at the assailant. At this point, the police began chasing Tarrant and arrested him.[1] The final death toll stood at fifty-one, with forty-nine people injured.[2]
In the immediate aftermath of this horrible tragedy, the New Zealand government called for strict gun control to be enacted. The Prime Minister herself said that this was the darkest day in New Zealand history and that they must do better in protecting the citizenry.[3] To this end, gun control legislation was introduced to the National Assembly. It was passed on April 10, 2019 with a vote of 119-1, nearly unanimously. In total, this process to enact strict gun control only took twenty-six days.[4]
II. Analysis
According to gunpolicy.org, New Zealand is listed as restrictive when it comes to firearms laws.[5] There are numerous guiding laws when it comes to firearms including “the Arms Act 1983, the Arms Amendment Act 1992, the Arms Regulations 1992, [and] the Arms (Military Style Semi-automatic Firearms) Order 2019.”[6] The Commissioner of Police is responsible for overseeing the enforcement of these laws on the people of New Zealand.[7] For the purposes of this blog post, the reality of gun ownership will be looked at prior to the enactment of stricter gun control in 2019 and after the enactment.
a. Pre-2019
There is no right under the law to own a firearm in New Zealand.[8] That being said, a person would need to apply for a license with the police in order to obtain a firearm. The requirements for issuance of a firearms license are contained within the Arms Act 1983.[9] The person must be at least sixteen years of age, must be a fit and proper person to own a firearm, and must provide the contact details for their healthcare practitioner.[10] In order to be a fit and proper person for the purposes of obtaining a firearms license, the police must determine a number of things. First, the person must be knowledgeable of the safe operation and storage of firearms. Second, the person must not be a part of a gang, criminal group, or a violent/extremist group. Additionally, the license-seeker cannot have been convicted of a violent crime, including domestic violence.[11]
A different type of endorsement is needed on a license for the ownership of different firearms. In total, there are four categories of firearms in New Zealand. These categories are as follows: pistols, restricted, military style semi-automatics, and A-Category firearms.[12] A-Category firearms are the most common firearms and include most sporting style firearms and shotguns. There is no limit to the number of firearms a person can own in this category.[13] Military style semi-automatics were defined as:
(a) a semi-automatic firearm having 1 or more of the following features:
(i) a folding or telescopic butt:
(ii) a magazine designed to hold 0.22-inch rimfire cartridges that—
(A) is capable of holding more than 15 cartridges; or
(B) is detachable, and by its appearance indicates that it is capable of holding more than 15 cartridges:
(iii) a magazine (other than one designed to hold 0.22-inch rimfire cartridges) that—
(A) is capable of holding more than 7 cartridges; or
(B) is detachable, and by its appearance indicates that it is capable of holding more than 10 cartridges:
(iv) bayonet lugs:
(v) a flash suppressor:
(vi) a component of a kind defined or described by an order under section 74A as a pistol grip for the purposes of this definition; or
(b) a semi-automatic firearm of a make and model declared by an order under section 74A to be a military style semi-automatic firearm for the purposes of this Act; or
(c) a semi-automatic firearm of a description declared by an order under section 74A to be a military style semi-automatic firearm for the purposes of this Act; or
(d) a semi-automatic firearm that has a feature of a kind defined or described in an order under section 74A as a feature of military style semi-automatic firearms for the purposes of this Act.[14]
The reality of gun ownership prior to 2019 was heavily restricted and heavily regulated but most guns could be owned as long as the licensing requirements could be met.
b. Post-2019
The real change that occurred post-2019 is a change in the categories listed above. The Arms Order of 2019 saw a restructuring of the categories in a way that all military style semi-automatics were placed under the restricted category. A person could no longer own center-fire semi-automatic weapons. Rim-fire semi-automatic weapons were allowed for private ownership as long as they held ten rounds of ammunition or less in their magazine. Shotguns were permitted as long as they held five shells or less.[15]
III. Conclusion
The real question is whether the more restricted definition of firearms categories introduced in 2019 actually helped. While New Zealand’s gun crimes remain extremely low among most other Western countries, they have actually increased nearly threefold. In 2014, the number of gun crimes per million was below one. In 2020, that number has increased to 2.4 per million. Compared to the United States rate of one hundred-six per million, 2.4 is still incredibly low.[16] But the question remains with ever increasingly restrictive and regulated ownership of guns, why are gun crimes on a steep incline? More studies on this phenomenon will need to be done, but New Zealand certainly took quick action when confronted with abhorrent gun violence.
[1] Dominic Bailey et al, Christchurch Shootings: How the Attacks Unfolded, BBC (Mar. 18, 2019), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47582183.
[2] Brendan Cole, Gun Control Efforts Have Stalled, One Year After the Christchurch Mosque Killings, Newsweek Magazine (Mar. 13, 2020), https://www.newsweek.com/2020/03/13/gun-control-efforts-have-stalled-one-year-after-christchurch-mosque-killings-1492069.html.
[3] See Zane Small, Christchurch Terror Attack: Jacinda Ardern Announces Ban on Military-Style Semi-Automatic Weapons, Newshub (Mar. 21, 2019), https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/03/christchurch-terror-attack-jacinda-ardern-announces-ban-on-semi-automatic-weapons.html.
[4] Cole, supra note 2.
[5] Philip Alpers and Michael Picard, New Zealand — Gun Facts, Figures and the Law, Sydney School of Public Health (Mar. 18, 2021) https://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/new-zealand.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Arms Act 1983 (N.Z.).
[10] Id., s 24.
[11] Id., s 24a.
[12] See Kelly Buchanan, Firearms-Control Legislation and Policy: New Zealand, Library of Congress (Feb. 2013), https://www.loc.gov/law/help/firearms-control/newzealand.php#t67.
[13] Id.
[14] Arms Act 1983, s 2 (N.Z.) (repealed, on April 12, 2019, by section 4(2) of the Arms (Prohibited Firearms, Magazines, and Parts) Amendment Act 2019).
[15] See Arms (Military Style Semi-automatic Firearms) Order 2019 (N.Z.).
[16] Ben Strang, Rates of Gun Crimes and Killings Using Guns at Highest Levels in a Decade, Radio New Zealand (May 18, 2020), https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/416881/rates-of-gun-crimes-and-killings-using-guns-at-highest-levels-in-a-decade.