New Zealand to Announce New Gun Laws Within Days
CHRISTCHURCH (Reuters) -- New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday she would announce new gun laws within days, after a lone gunman killed 50 people in mass shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch.
Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday. Tarrant was remanded without a plea and is due back in court on April 5 where police said he was likely to face more charges.
"Within 10 days of this horrific act of terrorism we will have announced reforms which will, I believe, make our community safer,” Ardern told a news conference after her cabinet reached in principle decisions on gun reform laws in the wake of New Zealand’s worst ever mass shooting.
In addition to the 50 killed, dozens were wounded at two mosques in the South Island city during Friday prayers.
Ardern did not give details on new laws, but has said she supports a ban on semi-automatic weapons following the Christchurch shootings.
Australia introduced some of the world’s toughest gun laws after its worst mass killing, the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in which a lone gunman killed 35 people using a semi-automatic AR-15 - the same weapon used in the Christchurch massacre.
New Zealand, a country of only 5 million people, has an estimated 1.5 million firearms.
Ardern said an inquiry will be held into what authorities knew or should have known about Tarrant and the events leading up to the massacre, to see whether the attack could have been prevented.
There were 250 detectives and specialists across the country working on the investigation, said police.
Tarrant had declined to be represented by a lawyer but the court appointed duty lawyer Richard Peters to handle the case.
Peters told media Tarrant was lucid and understood the situation facing him.
"He was lucid,” Peters told Australian TV network Channel Nine. He seemed to appreciate what he was facing and why he was there.”
The majority of victims were migrants or refugees from countries such as Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Somalia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The youngest was a boy of three, born in New Zealand to Somali refugee parents.
Six Pakistanis, five Indians and five Bangladeshis were killed, officials said.
Frustration was building among the families of victims as under Islam it is custom to conduct burials within 24 hours, but bodies will not be released until post mortems are carried out.
Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday. Tarrant was remanded without a plea and is due back in court on April 5 where police said he was likely to face more charges.
"Within 10 days of this horrific act of terrorism we will have announced reforms which will, I believe, make our community safer,” Ardern told a news conference after her cabinet reached in principle decisions on gun reform laws in the wake of New Zealand’s worst ever mass shooting.
In addition to the 50 killed, dozens were wounded at two mosques in the South Island city during Friday prayers.
Ardern did not give details on new laws, but has said she supports a ban on semi-automatic weapons following the Christchurch shootings.
Australia introduced some of the world’s toughest gun laws after its worst mass killing, the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in which a lone gunman killed 35 people using a semi-automatic AR-15 - the same weapon used in the Christchurch massacre.
New Zealand, a country of only 5 million people, has an estimated 1.5 million firearms.
Ardern said an inquiry will be held into what authorities knew or should have known about Tarrant and the events leading up to the massacre, to see whether the attack could have been prevented.
There were 250 detectives and specialists across the country working on the investigation, said police.
Tarrant had declined to be represented by a lawyer but the court appointed duty lawyer Richard Peters to handle the case.
Peters told media Tarrant was lucid and understood the situation facing him.
"He was lucid,” Peters told Australian TV network Channel Nine. He seemed to appreciate what he was facing and why he was there.”
The majority of victims were migrants or refugees from countries such as Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Somalia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The youngest was a boy of three, born in New Zealand to Somali refugee parents.
Six Pakistanis, five Indians and five Bangladeshis were killed, officials said.
Frustration was building among the families of victims as under Islam it is custom to conduct burials within 24 hours, but bodies will not be released until post mortems are carried out.