Last Friday 50 people were killed and dozens injured at two mosques in a New Zealand terrorist attack. The shooting, which targetted Christchurch’s small Muslim community, was the deadliest shooting in New Zealand’s history and has led to increased calls for stricter gun laws in New Zealand.
In response to this, multiple online and storefront gun shops in New Zealand have removed military-style semi-automatic fire arms from their sales. Additionally, the Prime announced that new gun reform laws will be detailed within the week. Local gun store owners in Christchurch reported that they have received increased calls for semi-automatic weapons as well as magazines which can be added to weapons to increase the number of bullets that can be shot.
The gunman first live streamed on Facebook his open fire at the Linwood mosque, killing seven and injuring many. Then, the shooter drove to Al Noor mosque seven kilometers away and killed over 40 worshippers. Those killed were apart of the small Muslim community in New Zealand, which is made up mostly of immigrants from India, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Prime Minister Ardern called this attack a well planned terrorist attack and the shooter has been arrested and charged with murder.
While this case was extremely tragic, the government is confident in further actions that will be taken to reform gun laws and prevent future tragedies. Additionally, the shooter is in custody and awaiting trial in order for justice to be served to the families impacted by this attack.
Media: Aljazeera 2019; CNN 2019; NPR 2019; New York Times 2019