New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced plans to ban nearly all military-style semi-automatic and assault rifles on Thursday, six days after a gunman killed 50 people at two mosques in istchurch.
At a dramatic news conference, Ardern lamented that previous attempts to reform the country's gun laws had fallen short and declared that "the time for the mass and easy availability of these weapons must end, and today they will."
While Ardern characterized the policy as an immediate ban, she then clarified that it would be submitted to Parliament as legislation the first week of April.
The government will offer generous compensation for New Zealanders to sell their weapons to the government for destruction. She said the buyback program would cost $100 million to $200 million.
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