New Zealand was put on hold the afternoon of March 15th when a white supremacy supporter started a commotion in two important mosques in Christchurch. The events left more than 50 people dead and forty-nine injured at the spot.
These events raise awareness over gun laws forcing the government to change the law. In this article, we will share our thoughts on how these dreadful events affect New Zealand’s laws, and of course, the entire commerce in the country due to gun policies.
The Massacre
A 28-year-old man started live-streaming the attacks while driving to the mosque’s entrance before firing his gun in Al Noor mosque, Christchurch, New Zealand.
The gunman entered the premises, started firing indiscriminately to people as supremacist and military marching tunes were played in the background.
The gunman then proceeded to drive away 5 kilometers east from the Al Noor mosque, in which he shot a few people outside the temple and entered through a window.
An Imam, Muslim mosque’s leader, and religious guide took the task to fight against the gunman in order to try stopping the attacks without much success.
Gun Laws Changes
It was stated that in 2016, there were more than 1.1 million firearms legally acquired in New Zealand alone. Police say the actual number must be around 2 million or more, as most individual firearms in the country don’t need to be registered.
Although the actual registering process is not mandatory, all gun-owners must pass a background check.
Mental health, criminal records, addiction, and domestic violence reports are checked before allowing anyone older than 16 to purchase a gun.
Although the law considers many shotguns and rifles to be legal, the new changes in the law state MSSAs and assault rifles are now banned. Only MSSAs used for hunting and pest control are still allowed.
How It Affects the Christchurch Casino
Although they already banned all guns in the Christchurch casino, new technology is being implemented to up the security levels. The security team recently implemented facial recognition software.
The authorities say that if enough businesses in New Zealand use this software and its database grows strong, this could be a major step in the right direction.
We’ll have to wait to see how this pans out. Most detractors of this software are concerned about their privacy, but I’d rather be safe and let the government know a little bit more about me.
These firearm law changes will lower the number of firearms in the streets and will tighten the background check for everyone currently owning a gun.
This is going to help New Zealand and the gun industry to evolve and probably avoid any other big massacre in the country. Christchurch Casino will happily comply.
