As the enormity of last week’s mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand unfolded, Labour Party Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wasted no time in announcing that she’d be clamping down on civilian gun ownership. The next day, NZ Attorney General David Parker told a crowd that the government would ban semi-automatic guns in the island nation.

Unfortunately for the PM and AG, New Zealand is a parliamentary democracy. Neither of them can enact stricter gun control laws by decree (much as they may want to). And the AG managed to get himself out ahead of PM Ardern, politically speaking.

From radionz.co.nz:

Attorney-General David Parker has clarified comments made at a vigil in Auckland’s Aotea Square this afternoon, saying the government has not yet committed to banning some or all semi-automatic weapons. Mr Parker appeared to tell the cheering crowd that the government would ban semi-automatics, with some media and people on social media reporting the government had promised action. He has since, however, told RNZ he did not mean to go further than the prime minister. Earlier today Jacinda Ardern promised changes to New Zealand’s gun laws and said regulations around semi-automatic weapons was “one of the issues” the government would consider. But she did not say definitively the government would ban those weapons.

Oopsie.

Still, look for the Labour-controlled government to make a significant push to clamp down on civilian gun ownership in the country. It will most likely take the form of an Australian-style semi-auto ban and mandatory “buy-back.” And it likely won’t stop there. It never does.

That light at the end of the tunnel Kiwis are seeing is a speeding gun control train headed their way. That’s why “panic buying” of firearms is being reported ahead of the imposition of any new restrictions. Look for a subsequent spate of unfortunate boating mishaps, a run on PVC tubing, as well as hundreds of new flower beds and vegetable gardens to pop up across the country.

The media, though, are compliantly paving the way for a legislative crackdown, portraying New Zealand’s five million citizens (with a few notable exceptions) as only too happy to give up their guns.

This from the Associated Press: