“I’m glad New Zealand’s having trouble enforcing those laws. Someday, those “criminals” may well save the worthless lives of the people who tried to disarm them with the very guns they banned.”
Many people in the United States have kept an eye on New Zealand. Gun control activists have watched and lamented that the U.S. supposedly can’t respond as aggressively to a mass shooting while pro-gun voices have kept an eye on the nation because we know how well gun control is going to work.
It seems that while everyone is applauding New Zealand’s new assault weapon ban, they never bothered to think about how enforceable it would be.
Spoiler: It’s not.
Growing opposition from New Zealand’s pro-gun groups has complicated efforts to round up the now-banned firearms under a buyback program. Lawsuits are threatened.
Gun-control advocates argue that compensation rates may not be fair and warn of a possible spike in black-market sales.
The government, meanwhile, is faced with a sobering set of challenges over how to enforce the new law.
by Tom Knighton
