New Zealanders surrender thousands of firearms five months after Christchurch massacre

New Zealanders surrender thousands of firearms five months after Christchurch massacre

Thousands of firearms have been handed in and millions of dollars in compensation has been handed out during the first month of New Zealand's public gun collection events.

Key points: 8,000 firearms have been surrendered in New Zealand's buyback scheme

New Zealand banned some weapons after the Christchurch massacre

$17 million in compensation has been awarded to gun owners

The events have been held in the wake of the Christchurch shootings.

In March, 51 people died and 49 were injured when a lone gunman stormed into two mosques and opened fire with semi-automatic weapons and shotguns.

Within weeks, New Zealand's Parliament voted for tough gun law reforms, including a ban on semi-automatic firearms and a buyback scheme.

One month ago, the first public gun collection event was held in Christchurch, just a few kilometres from where the massacres took place.

More than 70 similar events have been held around the country since.

New Zealand police told the ABC that in the buyback's first month, more than 8,000 weapons and 33,000 parts had been surrendered.

Almost $17 million in compensation has been paid.

Deputy Police Commissioner Mike Clement said he was happy with how the scheme was rolling out.

"We expected, based on what the Australians told us of their own [gun buyback] experience in the mid-1990s, that we would get a surge at the start, a lull in the middle, then another surge at the end," Deputy Commissioner Clement said.

"Initially, some people were grumpy and didn't necessarily see the need to change the law," he said.

"But I think people are warming to the fact that the decision is made and this is the direction that New Zealand is going to take."

Gun owners say they need weapons to put food on the table

Authorities are hoping the scheme will be as successful as the Australian buyback in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre 23 years ago, when more than 700,000 weapons were surrendered and destroyed.

The government is offering money for every gun handed back by a licensed owner, with the amount depending on the value and condition of the firearm.

The total cost of the scheme estimated to be $207 million.

Ahead of the first event in Christchurch last month, Nicole McKee from the Council of Licensed Firearms Owners (COLFO) told the ABC law-abiding gun owners were not consulted about the law changes nor the buyback scheme.

"There are 250,000 of us here in New Zealand and by the time you add in the immediate family members and those affected by this — we're talking over a million people — so I think we deserve to have a say," Ms McKee said in July.

"We are a rural and farming community here at the bottom of the world and with that, we use firearms as a pest control tool and there's quite a few of us that hunt as well to put food on the table."

COLFO has launched a crowd-funding campaign to seek legal advice and potentially take court action if its members continue to be left out of the conversation.

"We are not happy at all with the compensation package that government has put on the table. It's not fair and it's not reasonable," Ms McKee told the ABC.

Licensed firearms owners have another five months to surrender weapons that are now illegal, with an amnesty ensuring they will not face prosecution during that period.

After the amnesty expires, possession of prohibited firearms is punishable by up to five years in jail.

All the guns and parts surrendered are bent or broken up then shredded into scrap metal.

Topics: terrorism, murder-and-manslaughter, religion-and-beliefs, government-and-politics, new-zealand