Muslim community fears more mass shootings if gun laws rolled back

More people will die in mass shootings if firearms restrictions are rolled back, members of the Muslim community say.

It has been six years since a white supremacist terrorist from Australia stormed into Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre and opened fire.

Predominantly armed with semi-automatic centrefire rifles, he left 51 worshippers dead or dying and injured dozens more in only 15 minutes.

Those firearms were all but banned following the massacre, with only a few hundred people allowed to use the guns for pest control, although the coalition government was now rewriting the Arms Act.

The minister in charge, ACT's Nicole McKee, had previously signalled her displeasure with the previous government's reforms following the attack, and indicated access to the kinds of weapons used by the shooter could be liberalised.

Muslim community members said they were cynical about her motives and the government's legislative plans but McKee said the Arms Act was in need of an overhaul to make it fit-for-purpose.

"As I stated when the consultation period began it is important that everyone has the chance to provide input into how firearms are controlled and, therefore, everyone has an opportunity to have a say in the rewrite of the Act. However, as I am yet to receive a report on the first stage of submissions, I believe their concern is misplaced," McKee told RNZ.

The legislation had not yet been drafted, so the government's exact proposals remained unclear.

However, Rosemary Omar, who lost her son Tariq in the massacre at Al Noor Mosque, said McKee had an agenda and her views on firearms were "ludicrous".

"If she believes it was just a mosque attack that does not equate with the fact that some day there will another crazy person out there that may go to a mall or may go to a marae or a school," she said.

"I think she needs to address the issue of how many firearms do people need? What type of firearms do we need? It's just out of touch with the reality of what's happened."

Omar told RNZ some people in positions of power had little empathy for the community and the trauma survivors had been through.

"I really don't think they actually get it. What it's like to be a member of a family who is involved in a terrorist attack. They have no concept whatsoever about how violent the guns are and the guy legally obtained them," she said.

"We're not talking about people illegally getting guns or illegally having no firearms licence. So why make things any easier for potential terrorists?"

Before entering parliament, McKee was a spokesperson for the Council of Licensed Firearm Owners and was appointed in May 2017 by then-Police Minister Paula Bennett to provide advice on a law and order select committee report into illegal gun ownership.

The committee had suggested further restricting semi-automatic rifles and shotguns in an attempt to close what was known as the MSSA loophole - a legislative gap which allowed licensed firearms to legally buy semi-automatic centrefire rifles and equip them with legally-obtained high-capacity magazines, which then turned them into supposedly restricted military-style semi-automatic weapons.

The Christchurch terrorist, who held a New Zealand firearms licence, used two of those guns as his primary weapons during the attack.

The then-National government ultimately opted not to restrict the weapons and mosque shootings happened less than two years later.

Aya Al-Umari, who brother Hussein died in Al Noor Mosque, said McKee's history sat uncomfortably with her.

"The position that Nicole McKee has had in the past raises questions about whether there is a conflict of interest on how the rewrite is driven," she said.

"Whether the process will remain objective or not remains a question."

Islamic Women's Council spokesperson Aliya Danzeisen said the council found the possibility of liberalising access to semi-automatic centrefire rifles offensive.

"The terrorist did in New Zealand what he couldn't do in Australia. Why couldn't he do it? Because Australia, after losing the lives of of so many people in a mass shooting, they put in very strict firearms requirements. The shooter in Christchurch wouldn't have been able to do it and wasn't able to do it in Australia, so he looked for another place," she said.

"Are we gonna weaken our firearms [laws] again to invite more people like him in to do something like this? I would say the average New Zealander would say no. Not even average - the vast majority of New Zealanders would say no."

Danzeisen said she was also concerned about McKee leading the process because of her history.

"There's a lobby out there that has the ear of part of the coalition government at the moment and that lobby is very connected with them and and it deals with firearms," he said.

"Paula Bennett was there in tears, hugging me after the attacks with how sad it was. I didn't even realise at the time she had been the minister who made the decision not to strengthen the firearms, but the current minister was one of her advisors in that process. So all those things are quite shocking. The current minister not just has a history of lobbying for firearms, but she also had a business that was based on firearms," she said.

McKee worked as a firearms safety trainer and still owned Firearms Safety Specialists New Zealand Limited.

Federation of Islamic Associations spokesperson Abdur Razzaq Khan said he would support changes to the Arms Act that strengthened the legislation and limited the number of people who could access firearms.

"The thrust of the changes which are being proposed, in fact the core changes being proposed, is to dismantle all the safety scaffolding that we had post-March 15th," he said.

"Particularly in terms of accessibility and usage of the semi-automatic military-style weapons. Let's face it, they are weapons designed for mass killing.

"Now the minister is very keen to bring back the MSSA and she is going counter to every other country, bar the United States, where they're trying to limit MSSA."

Chance to beef up protections

University of Waikato Law Professor Alexander Gillespie said the Arms Act rewrite should be seen as an opportunity to strengthen protections.

"On the positive side of the ledger, it's good to update this law because it's old and it's all over the place. It's written in about three or four different pieces of legislation and regulations. So it's good to codify it and update it," he said.

"The risk is that many of the achievements that were accomplished in 2019 and 2020 and subsequently could be undermined and in ways which we don't expect. But there's also an opportunity because we can look overseas and say 'actually there's different ways of doing law reform with firearm safety and public safety' and some of them are not even on the books to begin with.

"A good example of that would be the mandatory reporting of bad behaviour at a gun club or a gun range - something like that is obligatory in Canada and parts of Australia, but it doesn't appear in the New Zealand legislation even though we know that the terrorist are was involved in the firearms club and training for a illicit purpose."

It was premature to speculate on what shape the final legislation would take, Gillespie said.

"It's a chance to improve the law or to make the law go backwards and at the moment I'm neutral about whether we'll have an advance or not, but I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that it will go back, because even if one person in authority has views, I think the majority of New Zealand wants stricter gun control to make sure that public safety is forefront and we reduce the risk of atrocities like what happened in Christchurch recurring."

Gillespie had his own wishlist for things in the rewrite, including a more intrusive and investigative licensing process, mandatory reporting of poor behaviour at gun clubs and firearms injuries, registration of all firearms sales, and licence holders requiring a legitimate purpose for having firearms.

McKee was not available for an interview before the sixth anniversary of the attack on Saturday, but promised to speak to RNZ next week.

In a statement, she said the rewrite was in its early stages and she was yet to receive a report on the first submission process, which closed last month.

"My 'intentions' around the rewrite remain consistent, and that is to update a piece of legislation which has been in place for 40 years and, rather than being fully overhauled has been tinkered with periodically, often in a rushed manner," the statement said.

"This government will rewrite the Act to put in place a fit-for-purpose regime which has public safety, effective regulatory processes and compliance at its heart."

The Minister did not address RNZ's question about her intent regarding the availability of currently prohibited and restricted firearms, such as those used by the terrorist.

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