
New Zeland bans all military-style semi-automatic guns and assault rifles - sahin-boydas
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2019/mar/21/new-zealand-shooting-jacinda-ardern-to-make-policy-announcement-live-updates
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detaro
previously:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19450772](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19450772)

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identity-haver
Is a "military-style" gun kind of like a "sports-style" car? Snark aside, this
is some pretty weak reporting. Was their parliament or whatever involved at
all? The article makes it sound like their prime minister can just arbitrarily
ban guns, creating crimes, but I doubt that's really the case. Also the term
"buyback" is a really bad term, since it usually implies a voluntary nature.
This is really a "forced buyback" or confiscation.

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dev_dull
That’s the same type of reporting I’ve seen everywhere. “New Zealand bans
guns” — can a single PM even do that? Is there any debate in their parliament
regarding the move? Do citizens have the same constitutional protections there
as they do here w.r.t. gun ownership?

It’s almost like the headlines are written in such a way as to say “See? It’s
just that easy!”

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pjc50
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_New_Zealand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_New_Zealand)
: apparently NZ has a UK-style uncodified constitution. I think the only
country that defines weapon ownership as a right is the US?

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LyndsySimon
Off the top of my head, Mexico, Haiti, and Guatemala all have a "Right to Bear
Arms" in some form. It's widely ignored in Mexico, though.

I also know that there are several countries where firearms are widely
available to private citizens, both in their homes and in public, such as the
Czech Republic.

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gnicholas
More details from the NYT: [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/20/world/asia/new-
zealand-gu...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/20/world/asia/new-zealand-gun-
ban.html)

This does not yet have Parliamentary approval, but is expected to pass. It
includes mandatory buybacks, but since they do not have a gun registry law
they will have some challenges measuring compliance.

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LyndsySimon
Only "Class E" firearms are themselves registered, to my knowledge. A holder
of a less permissive license can purchase very similar firearms, so long as
they are modified to be in compliance (e.g., have a thumb-hole stock instead
of a traditional pistol grip) and they only use 7-round magazines.

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maccio92
New Zealand has fallen.

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platry
Correction: Military only.

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dev_dull
Military “style” only. I can’t find where they make that distinction.

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Kephael
Probably means anything that looks like it was designed after 1940. The
Australian Gun Control lobby is calling for bans on "military style" bolt
action and lever action rifles. These were military rifles at the end of the
19th century. "military style" means whatever they want to ban.

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europsucks
What happened to the "no politics" policy of HN?

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grzm
If you think a post is inappropriate for HN, you can flag it.

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europsucks
Only after a certain score, I think. Also, not the point of policies, or is
it?

