Jacinda ardern firearm confiscation assault weapons
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Law abiding gun owners don’t appreciate being made to pay for the sins of a few unstable, crazy individuals. Particularly those who openly state that their intent is to bring about more gun control and limits on the right to keep and bear arms. As the Christchurch mosque shooter wrote in his 74-page rambling manifesto,

I chose firearms for the affect (sic) it would have on social discourse, the extra media coverage they would provide and the affect it could have on the politics of United states (sic) and thereby the political situation of the world.

Gun-grabbing politicians just can’t help themselves, though. So in the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque shootings, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s goverment reflexively moved to give the shooter exactly what he said he wanted.

But a funny thing happened on the way to full and unquestioned confiscation compliance. As Reason’s J.D. Tudcille writes,

Once again, responding to a horrendous crime by inflicting knee-jerk, authoritarian restrictions on innocent people proves to be an ineffective means of convincing people to obey. Specifically, New Zealand’s government—which also stepped up censorship and domestic surveillance after bloody attacks on two Christchurch mosques earlier this year—is running into stiff resistance to new gun rules from firearms owners who are slow to surrender now-prohibited weapons and will probably never turn them in.

Huh. Imagine that.

The Mercury News reports:

…The government, meanwhile, is faced with a sobering set of challenges over how to enforce the new law.

There is no national registry for many of the weapons targeted by the ban, including the AR-15 — a semiautomatic rifle that has been used in mass shootings in the United States and is often at the center of American gun-control debates.

As a result, estimates of the numbers of newly banned weapons vary widely. So far, about 700 firearms have been voluntarily surrendered.

New Zealand’s laissez-faire pre-Christchurch approach to gun regulation means authorities are going to have a very difficult time identifying what firearms Kiwis own.

Traditionally relaxed in its approach to firearms regulation, and enjoying a low crime rate, New Zealand has no firearms registration rule. That means authorities have no easy way of knowing what guns are in circulation or who owns them.

“These weapons are unlikely to be confiscated by police because they don’t know of their existence,” Philippa Yasbek of Gun Control NZ admitted. “These will become black-market weapons if their owners choose not to comply with the law and become criminals instead.”

This is exactly why gun rights advocates in the US have argued for years that registration is just a precursor to confiscation. It doesn’t prevent crimes and there’s literally no other reason for it.

Interestingly, gun grabbers in New Zealand (like many in America) look towards Australia for what they see as the model of a successful gun confiscation. However, the dirty little secret from Oz is that only about 20% of the banned guns were surrendered back in the 1990s.

You read that right. Roughly 640,000 banned Australia self-loading firearms were surrendered/sold/confiscated and about 2.5 million remain in circulation, despite serious criminal penalties for unauthorized possession.

Law-abiding New Zealanders are just the latest population of gun owners to decide that they’d prefer to hold onto their guns after all, thank you very much. The fact that the country’s criminal element had already announced that they have no plans to comply might have played a part in that decision, too.

So, just like firearm owners in Australia (not to mention places like Connecticut, New York and California) before them, Kiwis are choosing massive non-compliance over politicians’ promises of rainbow-spangled safety thanks to a gun-free future for all.

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms sees a lesson in all of this for American politicians (not that they’re likely to listen).

A new report from New Zealand three months after the Parliament there hastily enacted new gun control regulations shows that people are not surrendering their banned firearms, and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today that there is a lesson in that for Democrats now vying for the presidency.

“From poll leader Joe Biden down to last place Washington Gov. Jay Inslee,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “every Democrat running has offered some new degree of gun control to include bans on many semiautomatic firearms. But New Zealanders, who don’t even enjoy a Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in their constitution, are balking at the notion of turning in their firearms.

“Here in the United States,” he continued, “where we have the Second Amendment as the cornerstone of our Bill of Rights, anybody who seriously believes the citizens will line up to just hand over their guns may be too delusional to be president.”

According to Reason magazine, only about 700 firearms have so far been surrendered, out of an estimated 1.5 million guns in the country.

“When a government starts penalizing law-abiding citizens for crimes they didn’t commit,” Gottlieb observed, “it’s up to those citizens to resist. We understand there are legal challenges in the works, and we support that.

“After the tragedy of Christchurch, our sympathies are still with the people of New Zealand,” he added. “However, it should be no surprise that there are now concerns about a possible black market in illicit firearms.

“Remember,” Gottlieb recalled, “the man now accused of this horrible crime apparently did it in part to stir up a gun control debate and bring about new restrictions in New Zealand and in the United States. Ardern and the Parliament gave him exactly what he wanted.

“If this is what’s happening in New Zealand,” he concluded, “just what do Democrats running for president think would happen here if they followed the same course? We guarantee they would collide head-on with the Bill of Rights.”

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (www.ccrkba.org) is one of the nation’s premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States.

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91 COMMENTS

  1. I’d laugh at the feeble efforts of the NZ government if it wasn’t so sad.

    • I don’t believe they have the resources yet. If there were to be another mass shooting, NZ Gov will find a way. The governmet is mob rule after all and the world is watching. In the meantime I wish the gun owners the best of luck in their endeavours.

    • Yes
      According to some of my family who work near major gun shop on North Island people who bought AR15 and similar after the rules changed have had the police arrive almost as soon as they were home.

      People who bought when there was no registration no problems yet. Of course individuals are supposed to have shooters licence so police can use that list when they want to

      • checking out the sales record of the stores is one way it might happen…if they want to go that far…

    • “Door to door searches and confiscation and arrests?”

      For that to be effective they would have to do simultaneous searches of every home, building, and business in the country at the same time. Those that think door to door ransacking and confiscation is a good idea should understand that they will most likely be a victim of such also since the government has no idea exactly where all the firearms are. Public opinion would quickly turn once that starts happening.

  6. Gun owners are supposed to be law abiding.

    When the same laws are passed in America everyone has to comply because it’s the law. Criminals shouldn’t be allowed to own guns, so turn them in. Just do what the police say and you won’t get hurt.

    • “Gun owners are supposed to be law abiding.”

      Well, the ‘law’ says “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”.

      Clear enough for you?

      And, BTW, almost nobody turned in their supposedly now-illegal bump-stocks…

      • they could track them down the same way…but,…unless they’re driven to it…I doubt they will…

      • Geoff, “now ‘illegal'” should always include the quotes around “illegal”, unless 2A has been repealed.

    • *Just do what the non tyrant patriots do, and police won’t get hurt.

      Fixed that for you.

    • Many of the Officers I know wouldn’t turn in their firearms if they were made illegal either.

    • Definition:

      crim·i·nal·ize
      /ˈkrim(ə)nəˌlīz/
      Learn to pronounce
      verb
      turn (an activity) into a criminal offense by making it illegal.
      “his view is that the state should not criminalize drug use but discourage it”
      turn (someone) into a criminal by making their activities illegal.
      “these punitive measures would further criminalize travelers for their way of life”

    • Definition:

      pa·ter·nal·ism
      /pəˈtərnlˌizəm/
      Learn to pronounce
      noun
      noun: paternalism
      the policy or practice on the part of people in positions of authority of restricting the freedom and responsibilities of those subordinate to them in the subordinates’ supposed best interest.

  7. The Globalist Elite have spent hundreds of MILLIONS of dollars to buy the NZ Govt. to make a safe haven for themselves to run to when the violence and discord they have propagated come to fruition.

    They have also spent BILLIONS to build underground complexes and stock them for their safety and survival. It is also rumored that a few groups have private airliners on standby for their evacuation.

    Pitty if the Kiwi’s don’t cooperate.

    • They would have to worry about the “Mongrel Mob”, a local outlaw motorcycle gang and criminal syndicate who are said to be better armed than the NZ military.

      • Apparently the Maori will also be a problem including as a major portion of the NZ Army.

  11. If I were one of the leftists Democrat candidates I think I might stand apart from the others and state that I don’t have a problem with law abiding citizens having military style semi-auto’s. That way I would stand out from the rest of the pack and pick up the democrat but pro-gun vote.

    • All 9 of them? Sadly the Democratic party has dropped any pretense and openly embraces Marxism now. If there are any “pro-gun Democrats” they are mentally retarded.

      • Apparently they aren’t embracing Marx too heartily. Marx was very forcefully insistent on the importance of the proletariat being armed.

        As far as that goes– there isn’t a Marxist in the whole lot of Democrat candidates. Nor a socialist. They are firmly in bed with the Wall Street oligarchs — the same ones setting up bunkers in NZ and the midwest — and none of their programs promote the demise of capitalism. On the contrary– they are all offering a different box of band-aids to try and fix some of the worst features of capitalism without destroying it.

        • Fascists is what they are. Totalitarians who want the entire private sector to become rent-paying clients to an all-powerful state apparatus, which they will direct for the benefit of all (but mostly their own).

      • Which is ironic considering JFK’s stance against Communism in the early 1960s.

        • That man was always too damn amiable towards the soviet block for his and the free words good. By the time JFK showed up communism had already killed tends of millions of people. Even when stacked up against the worlds of America’s own atrocities no one ideology butchered, starved, and poisoned more land than the various communist nations. At the end of WW2 Patton should have told his superiors to get bent and kept right on rolling through Germany to Moscow.

  12. As a former New Zealand gun owner I just hope that those who refused to comply with the ban understand that violent resistance may be necessary/unavoidable at some point.

      • Yes, moved to the US became a citizen, had no further use for my NZ firearms license, it expired a number of years back and I never renewed it, it’s good to be a free man.

      • Former New Zealander or gun owner?

        I earned the right to call myself an American by going through the immigration process the legal way, it took 14 years and 20K so I consider myself an American and a former New Zealander, I’ll NEVER be a former gun owner.

  14. Little Jacinda looks slightly undead. I wonder if her thirst for blood matches her actions.

  15. Never underestimate stupid voters in the United States who would prefer to be safe and have free stuff over the Second Amendment. Americans in this country have not had to really suffer or fight for anything in a long time. So, when the rubber meets the road, it will be interesting to see how many arm chair warriors turn into true warriors when you-know-what hits the fan. Verses the ones who just preferred to pretend they are while knowing good-and well they were not going to fight for anything.

    • “….Americans in this country have not had to really suffer or fight for anything in a long time…..”

      You nailed it.

      When society worries about which bathroom to use and young people calling everyone Nazis……I have almost no hope for the future of American society.

      Public Education produced Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez….and she is Farm Animal Stupid.

      Idiocracy the movie is as foretelling as Orwells 1984

      • I think this one post is the most telling, succinct and accurate summation I have yet to read/hear on this situation; especially the part about AO-C. She is as un-good looking as she is lacking in intelligence. Of course, she’s never held a real job in her life; one which requires thought and problem solving skills, which tending bar does not.

        • “Farm Animal Stupid” does it for me, I surrender, count me out, and I am *SO* stealing that. I retire, genuflecting, … All hail the Jolly!

  17. “running into stiff resistance to new gun rules from firearms owners who are slow to surrender now-prohibited weapons and will probably never turn them in…”

    Non-compliance is all well and good but it’s hardly stiff resistance.

    • Faced with years of prison and life of being called criminal, it’s more resistance than most expected. Gun owners are by and large a law abiding bunch. It’s not easy to suddenly turn around and say – Screw the law, screw the police, I will do what’s right!

  18. I overheard a few folks talking about the possibility of door to door searches and confiscation in some of the states where stupidity runs rampant regarding firearms… and the impression I got was that there would be a new slogan that would become very common…
    “If you want our guns…Come armed and send bachelors.”
    I think that phrase was recently used by a man most of us greatly respect.

    • I live in Upstate NY. The door to door thing ain’t happening. There isn’t the will or the means even if there was.

      • I think door-to-door is extremely unlikely, no matter the “provocation” manufactured. So do “they”. That is why we have a continuing drive (for 50-75 years now) to get a FUCKING REGISTRY!!!!! If these looney tunes can ever even imagine they have a map of where every gun is in America, so that they can rob and loot and kill only those evil gunowners, without disturbing their personal sheep, you better have your gun loaded, because they’re on the way.

  19. Lefty woemin look like they sucked on a lemon. The men look like escapees from a gulag, all skin and bones. Is it the soy diet? The hate leaking out?
    Maybe Pod People!
    Even some who could be called attractive, ruin the look when they open their mouth.
    But hey, no one said politics was a beauty contest. Still, fugly.
    PS N.Z gun owners, stand fast, and keep your powder dry. Your day will come, as it will for us in the U.S.

    • People keep voting for female politicians, thinking they’re going to get Maggie Thatcher.

      Instead, they get Angela Merkel, Eva Peron, Dilma Rousseff or this woman. Or Theresa May. In this country, what do we have? Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris as the females running for the top office.

      Folks have to realize that Thatcher was the exception, not the rule.

  20. Good for NZ gun owners…stocking up for OUR civil war. Do the dumbocrats understand how many millions of us would resist?!?

    • The dumbocrats think it is a board game, I enter a smartass comment and you counter, nothing is *REAL*!! After the coming conflict, that will simply continue, unless a price is exacted from those who advocated for killing me and my children. They must be hunted down and exterminated, along with immediate and extended families.

  21. One thing I notice is a lot of these liberal anti gun types have that gnarled deformed look about them. Screwed up on the inside as well as the outside.

    • The inner ugliness tends to seep through to the surface. Constant state of indignation and anger doesn’t help either.

  22. It’s totally cool. This sort of thing has failed spectacularly in Australia and New Zealand, but it will totally work in the United States, where we have a second amendment, a deep, zealous gun culture, and something like 600 million guns. Yep, the “Australian model” will definitely be effective in America! Can’t wait!

  23. If it ever comes to the point where such gun bans are implemented in the USA I hope several red states become “sanctuary” states for gun owners in that the state will not enforce federal gun laws because they believe they are unconstitutional. That would also insure that Second Amendment gun owners would flock to those states and help that they remain red.

    • I hope we do what George Washington and crew did, when they came for their guns they shot them in the face for it and on Christmas morning none the less!

    • But then the federal government won’t give them their taxes back! 😳 (Like when they wanted everyone to drive 55.)

  25. didnt work in austraila 640,000 out 3,000,000 estimated at time of confiscation

    didnt work in new zeland 700 out of 1,500,000 estimated at time of confiscation

    USA 400,000,000 KNOWN, probably another 50,000,000 to 100,000,000 unknown – – – – – – Along with the fact that American’s are even less likely to turn anything in than these two countries……That’ll, definitely work go with that.

      • I suspect the total, including black powder, homebuilt, and just really old, would surpass a billion, but the real point is that nobody knows, and just when you think your tyranny is good to go, it may turn out there is one right next to you … OOoops!

  26. I wonder just how many people from the other side of planet earth get their news and moral support from gun information sites like TTAG? The new “iron curtain” is growing across the planet.

    The american colony was the only one to break away from the mother country England. Recent events in New Zealand and Venezuela show just how the founding fathers were so correct in writing our Constitution. And its Bill of Rights.

    Good luck to people everywhere fighting for their freedom.

    • “””””””””””””””””””I wonder just how many people from the other side of planet earth get their news and moral support from gun information sites like TTAG? The new “iron curtain” is growing across the planet.

      The american colony was the only one to break away from the mother country England. Recent events in New Zealand and Venezuela show just how the founding fathers were so correct in writing our Constitution. And its Bill of Rights.

      Good luck to people everywhere fighting for their freedom.””””””””””””””””””””””””””

      Don’t be so smug your next in 2020 and with 67 % of the population as non gun owners the majority of the American people consider guys like you “the enemy” and the power mad Supreme Court has always been anti-gun and always votes with public opinion. History is not on your side. The roller coaster ride is over and about to go off the rails at the Amusement Park as it shuts down forever. The ride was fun while it lasted but nothing lasts forever.

      And just remember you can have the last laugh because you saved a couple of measly dollars by not joining the NRA. You get what you deserve. Prostitute Politicians go where the money is and the NRA is broke and cannot save your ass this time around. But hey, you saved a few bucks didn’t you.

  27. Well, bully for them! I was worried that the Kiwi’s would race each other to the front of the line to turn them in. I’m glad I was wrong in this case, and I hope I continue to be.

  28. What should we expect from British colonies there was a big reason we kicked their ass looks like we may have to do it again with them letting Muslims taking over

  30. Most kiwi gun owners are beta males who are only holding back from turning in their guns because they’re concerned whether they’ll actually get paid via buyback.

    Meanwhile the price of unregistered guns and pistols is skyrocketing.

  32. Its still early in the law. When there is a few high profile arrests complete with storm troopers assaulting some guys farm or house the remaining sheep will dutifully turn in their weapons “or else” and every one know what “or else” means’. They got million of guns in Australia and they will get them here too, the robotic brainwashed storm troopers will do as they are told and round them all up for destruction. History in the past has proven it. The people only exist for the pleasure and profit of the Government.

  33. Definition:

    au·thor·i·tar·i·an·ism
    /ôˌTHäriˈterēənizəm/
    Learn to pronounce
    noun
    noun: authoritarianism
    the enforcement or advocacy of strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom.
    lack of concern for the wishes or opinions of others.

  34. Definition:

    tyr·an·ny
    /ˈtirənē/
    Learn to pronounce
    noun
    noun: tyranny; plural noun: tyrannies
    cruel and oppressive government or rule.
    “people who survive war and escape tyranny”
    synonyms: despotism, absolutism, absolute power, autocracy, dictatorship, undemocratic rule, reign of terror, totalitarianism, Fascism; More
    oppression, suppression, repression, subjugation, enslavement;
    authoritarianism, high-handedness, imperiousness, bullying, harshness, strictness, severity, cruelty, brutality, ruthlessness, injustice, unjustness
    antonyms: democracy, liberality
    a nation under cruel and oppressive government.
    cruel, unreasonable, or arbitrary use of power or control.
    “the tyranny of the nine-to-five day”
    (especially in ancient Greece) rule by one who has absolute power without legal right.

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