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In reply to the discussion: Mosque shooting: Gunman livestreamed shooting, has 37-page manifesto [View all]DVDGuy
(53 posts)New Zealand has much less strict gun laws than Australia, despite various attempts in recent times to toughen the laws. The shooter's guns were all legally purchased. Various groups, including the police, in particular, have tried to push for universal registration and reclassification of certain rifles, such as AR-15 style ones, from the current 'A' category to the more restricted 'E' category (military-style semi-automatics). These attempts have failed due to high court challenges made by the NZ equivalent of the NRA, the New Zealand National Shooters Association.
'A' category rifles are limited to only 7 rounds, but it looks like the shooter was able to simply use a higher capacity magazine to turn his 'A' category rifle into a more restricted 'E' category one. This is considered a loophole in the law, which some say have been put in deliberately by the gun lobby, which "helped" to write the current laws. More information here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_New_Zealand
It says something that this Australian guy couldn't do what he did in his own country because of the tough gun laws here (I'm Australian), so he had to choose another country to act out his evil fantasies. Gun control works, and it looks like NZ will get getting much tougher ones pretty soon (but sadly, not soon enough).