While not releasing details of any pending gun controls, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is encouraging gun owners to hand over their firearms.

The Guardian reports that Ardern emerged from a cabinet meeting Monday to say that new gun controls had been agreed upon but specifics would not be immediately made known. She did, however, praise the fact that her government had made decisions about new restrictions on gun ownership within 72 hours of the Christchurch attacks.

Ardern went on to “applaud” New Zealanders who have surrendered weapons and she encouraged others to go ahead and hand theirs over as well:



The New Zealand government pledged a semiautomatic rifle ban the day after the Christchurch attacks. The form of this ban–and details related to it–remain unknown.

The mosque attacker was a licensed gun owner who acquired his firearms legally. He used five firearms in his attack, only two of which were semiautomatic rifles.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.