In the wake of the horrific Chirstchurch mosque shootings earlier this year, New Zealand’s government imposed strict new firearms laws. As was obvious from the beginning, gun owners are not giving up their private property.
(…)
As Reason now reports, New Zealand gunowners aren’t handing in the legally obtained-but-since-declared-illegal firearms. The latest numbers show just 700 weapons have been turned in. There are currently 1.5 million firearms in New Zealand, though it is unclear how many fall under the new expansive ban.
“These weapons are unlikely to be confiscated by police because they don’t know of their existence,” said Philippa Yasbek of Gun Control NZ. “These will become black-market weapons if their owners choose not to comply with the law and become criminals instead.”
The reason people aren’t turning in their weapons is obvious: The government doesn’t know who owns what firearm, and have no way to figure that out unless they go door-to-door searching. That would be an extreme violation of human rights. – READ MORE