Land of the free, home of the mass shooting

New Zealand’s decisive action after Christchurch puts America to shame

Eric Boose / Opinion Editor / The USD Vista

“Kia Kaha.” In Maori, it means “be strong,” and it was the message to New Zealanders after the attack on a pair of mosques in Christchurch on Friday, March 15, which left 50 people dead and 50 more injured. As support poured in to Christchurch from across the country and around the world, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern offered her own message: a message of unity.

“Many of those who will have been directly affected by this shooting may be migrants to New Zealand; they may even be refugees here,” Ardern said. “They have chosen to make New Zealand their home, and it is their home. They are us. The person who has perpetuated this violence against us is not. They have no place in New Zealand. There is no place in New Zealand for such acts of extreme and unprecedented violence.”

However, Ardern offered more than her words, thoughts, and prayers. After the shooting, Ardern promised to take swift action to ban assault weapons in New Zealand. On Thursday, March 21, “all assault rifles, high capacity magazines, and military style semi-automatic rifles” were banned in New Zealand. Within a week of the first mass shooting in the country since 1997, New Zealand took strong, unified action to keep weapons of war off the streets. 

Meanwhile, it has been over six years since 27 people, 20 of them children, were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Since that December in 2012, the types of weapons now banned in New Zealand have been used in 12 mass shootings, which have left 209 people dead. Still, assault rifles are legal and easily available in the United States. 

It is important to recognize that the American government significantly differs from that of New Zealand. While the United States has two houses of the legislature, New Zealand has one legislature – Parliament. Also, Prime Minister Ardern is, like all prime ministers, a member of the party that holds a majority in Parliament. These differences vastly expedite the process for Ardern’s government to create and pass legislation. In the United States, any bill to ban assault rifles would have to pass through the House of Representatives and the Senate, which are controlled by opposing parties, before going to President Donald Trump, who would almost certainly veto the bill. 

However, New Zealand’s response to the Christchurch shooting shows that the United States’ failure to act is not a structural issue, but a cultural one. When Ardern announced the ban, Simon Bridges, leader of the minority New Zealand National Party, declared the party’s support for the tighter gun laws.

“The terrorist attack in Christchurch last week has changed us as a nation,” Bridges said in a statement. “(The National Party) has been clear since this devastating attack that we support changes to our regime and that we will work constructively with the government.”

Republicans rarely support Democratic policies, let alone one as strong as an assault weapons ban. Even if they did, it could mean the end of their political career. The gun lobby, led by the National Rifle Association, is one of the largest special-interest groups in American politics, and also one of the most dangerous. While New Zealand pro-gun group Federated Farmers has supported the ban despite many of its members disagreeing, pro-gun groups in the United States hold that any sensible gun control legislation is a violation of American rights. 

At this point, it is worth noting that there is no equivalent to the Second Amendment in New Zealand. For New Zealanders, gun ownership is a privilege, not a right. It is also worth noting, however, that the Second Amendment was written at a time when the only guns available were single-shot, muzzle-loading muskets, not assault rifles with 30-round magazines. Gun lobbyists have perverted the meaning of the Second Amendment to serve the continuation of America’s gun obsession over the safety of the American people.

Americans have placed such a cultural emphasis on gun ownership that any suggestion of even common-sense limitations is met with uncompromising resistance. Politicians are often more concerned with loyalty to their party’s platform than acting to protect their fellow Americans. Lobbyists pour money into fighting against any form of gun control, paying to keep weapons of war on American streets.

There is a difference between common sense gun control and the outright prohibition of firearms. The wording of New Zealand’s ban is precise and purposeful. Only “military style semi-automatic weapons,” assault rifles, and high-capacity magazines are banned. These are not weapons used for hunting, nor are they necessary for personal protection. These are weapons designed to kill a large amount of people in a short amount of time. New Zealand’s government is not trying to take away everyone’s guns, they are trying to keep their citizens safe.

There is no structural reason that the United States cannot do the same as New Zealand. Clearly, Americans have been blinded by the gun culture, by the twisting of the Second Amendment, and by money and lobbyists to deny common sense. If we wanted to stop mass shootings, we would ban assault rifles, and we would do it tomorrow. The lives of children, teenagers, friends, and family should be more important than a rifle, or an endorsement, or a political party. As a nation, we cannot go on like this. If we do not take decisive action to change our culture, the United States will continue to be the home of the mass shooting.