As the New Zealand Parliament works through the details of its new hardline gun control laws, including the banning of all military-style semi-automatic weapons and forced gun confiscation, one of the country’s more notorious gangs remains defiant, saying they will not give up their weapons because “we can’t guarantee our own safety.”
The leader of New Zealand’s notorious Mongrel Mob gang’s Waikato branch, Sonny Fauto, told New Zealand-based news outlet Stuff over the weekend that his gang will not comply with the gun ban.
“Will gangs get rid of their weapons? No,” Fatu told the outlet. “Because of who we are, we can’t guarantee our own safety.”
Citing an April 2017 report by the Law and Order Select Committee, Stuff notes that a 2014 police analysis found that nearly half of gang members were charged with firearms offenses. Gang members have admitted that many of those weapons have been obtained illegally. But, Fatu insists, they are necessary for their own protection — and haven’t resulted in the kinds of mass violence that occured in Christchurch. – READ MORE