Police said the gunman in Thursday’s attack had used a type of shotgun that is not banned under the new laws. The prime minister at the time, Jacinda Ardern, vowed to ban most semiautomatic weapons within a month and she succeeded, with only a single member of Parliament voting against the ban.Ī subsequent buyback scheme saw gun owners hand over more than 50,000 of the newly banned weapons to police in exchange for cash. In that attack, a shooter killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two Christchurch mosques during Friday prayers. New Zealand has tight gun laws, imposed in 2019 after the country’s worst mass shooting prompted a sea change in attitudes toward guns. It ended with an historic win for the home team, its first in a World Cup game. More than 40,000 people, including the prime minister, attended - the largest crowd to ever watch a soccer match in New Zealand. New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the shooting was an isolated act, and the FIFA tournament opened as scheduled Thursday night with a game between the home team and Norway. “I think it would be counterproductive and actually set you down the wrong path.” “I do not want to send a young man like you, with a limited history, to prison,” the judge said in his sentencing notes.