'It Didn't Have To Be This Way': How the Gun Lobby Made New Zealand Less Safe
NOVANEWS
Behind each massacre is the story of a violent gun culture and an industry that has stood against meaningful efforts to restrict weapons designed to maim and murder
by:Â Rebecca Peters
A truck unloads prohibited firearms at a scrapmetal yard in 1997 after the Port Arthur massacre a year earlier. (Photo: Reuters)
Australians over 40 can identify with the grief gripping New Zealand just now. We felt it in the aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, when 35 people were murdered and dozens more wounded at the popular holiday location in Tasmania. Just as in Christchurch, the Port Arthur killer was a 28-year-old loner with no criminal record armed with semi-automatic weapons.
In terms of numbers, the Christchurch shooting is much larger, with a death t...