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Petitioners welcome gun law reform announcement
Petitioners welcome gun law reform announcement
At
11.30am on Thursday, Wellingtonian Nik Green, Industrial
Designer Brad Knewstubb and mum of three Hannah Clarke
presented their combined 70,000-strong petitions to
Parliament for a ban on semi-automatic weapons and greater
firearm advertising regulations.
By 3pm, New
Zealand’s gun laws had changed.
The petitioners say
they are ‘very pleased’ with the government announcement
of a ban on military style semi-automatic guns and assault
rifles.
“We’re heartened by the government’s
response on this issue. It feels like we’re moving in the
right direction,” says Knewstubb.
In the wake of
the horrific events that took place in Christchurch, Green,
Knewstubb, and Clarke started separate petitions to ban
semi-automatic weapons and regulate firearms advertising in
New Zealand.
They combined forces to deliver their
petitions on Thursday. The petitions were accepted by
National’s Chris Bishop, Labour’s Grant Robertson and
Green co-leader James Shaw.
The petitioners had
gathered over 70,000 signatures in just five days. Knewstubb
said he was honoured to be representing the voices of tens
of thousands of New Zealanders.
“We all started the petitions because we wanted to see meaningful change made to our gun laws that make sure the events of Friday never happen again. The fact that we’ve managed to collect just shy of 70,000 signatures in under a week is a clear signal the community is ready for that change.”
Clarke
said that while she is supportive of the announced changes,
she remains concerned about gun advertisements ‘on
billboards around Wellington’.
“Firearms
advertising should be regulated in exactly the same way as
tobacco or any other harmful product,” says
Clarke.
“Guns are dangerous weapons, they are not
toys, and should never be portrayed this way in the media.
It is dangerous and irresponsible to have these kinds of
images in public spaces.”
“Firearms advertising in
the public eye feels like a stepping stone towards the
normalisation of guns in New Zealand, and we must do
everything we can to ensure our peaceful country never
becomes a place where it is normal for people to own
guns.”
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