It has prompted an immediate promise of stricter gun laws from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who said that the mosque attacker was a licensed gun owner and that five firearms were used during the rampage, including two semi-automatic weapons and two shotguns. Rules in New Zealand require gun owners to be licensed, but unlike neighbouring Australia, laws do not require all weapons to be registered, giving authorities poor oversight of the country's firearms, according to GunPolicy.org. "The police don't have a clue how many guns there really are in New Zealand," said Philip Alpers, an Australia-based expert in gun laws and director of GunPolicy.org. "I think we must be clear that the context of the gun laws between New Zealand and Australia are very different," Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Saturday. New Zealand's firearm laws have remained largely unchanged since 1992, though subsequent government reviews have called for reforms.

Source: bd News24 March 16, 2019 07:41 UTC