INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
massacre, but the gesture has put some squarely in the social media firing line.John Hart, a farmer in the North Island district of
Masterton, decided to give his semi-automatic rifle to police after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Monday plans to tighten gun
laws in light of the slaughter Friday of 50 Muslim worshippers.She also encouraged owners to surrender unnecessary firearms after it emerged
that the accused mosque attacker, Australia white nationalist Brenton Tarrant, had legally acquired the guns he used in the rampage.Hart
said it was an easy decision for him to hand in his semi-automatic and tweeted that "on the farm they are a useful tool in some
circumstances, but my convenience doesn't outweigh the risk of misuse
where the pro-gun lobby is powerful and vociferous.Hart deleted the messages but posted online: "A warm kia ora to all my new American
Facebook friends.""I'm not familiar with your local customs, but I assume 'Cuck' is a traditional greeting," he said of the insult, short
for "cuckold', frequently used by far-right extremists
It started about the time the US east coast was waking up
There seemed to have been a rallying call," he said.A more mild message, from Kaden Heaney asked: "What's the point of giving up yalls
personal guns Yall do realize what happens to societies that give up their guns right Evil people will get their hands on guns, knives,
bombs or whatever they want to kill no matter what the intentions of good people are
Who will protect you."Christopher @offwhiteblogger said: "You did the right thing then; you clearly aren't responsible enough to own a
firearm."Police said they did not have data available on the number of weapons handed in since Friday.But they issued a statement saying
that "due to heightened security and the current environment, we would ask that people please call us first before attempting to surrender a
Have owned a firearm for 31 years Once I realised that, the only way I could go forward with a clear conscience was to hand it into the
police for destruction."Ardern has said that details of the government's proposed law changes on gun ownership will be announced by next
absolutely unified and very clear: the terror attack in Christchurch on Friday was the worst act of terrorism on our shores, it was in fact
one of the worst globally in recent times, it has exposed a range of weaknesses in New Zealand's gun laws," she said.New Zealand police,
meanwhile, were investigating a suspicious fire at a gun club in the far north of the country, but were not immediately linking it to the
current gun debate.There had also been a fire at the same club a year ago.(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by
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