New Zealand cabinet backs tighter gun laws

New Zealand Prime Minster (PM) Jacinda Ardern has said she will announce detailed gun law reforms within days, after an attack on two mosques left 50 people dead.

Ms Ardern said her cabinet had backed gun law changes “in principle”.

Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a self-described white supremacist, has been charged with murder.

Police say the killer used military-style assault weapons modified to make them more deadly – which is not illegal under current legislation.

No specific details were given by the prime minister at her press conference on Monday, but she said they would be made clear soon.

“This ultimately means that within 10 days of this horrific act of terrorism we will have announced reforms which will, I believe, make our community safer,” she said.

Ms Ardern was appearing alongside her coalition partner and Deputy PM Winston Peters, who has previously opposed changes.

He said he fully supported the prime minister on the issue, adding: “The reality is that after one pm on Friday, our world changed forever and so will our laws.”

Ms Ardern said: “We have made a decision as a cabinet, we are unified.”

She also announced that an inquiry would look into the lead-up to the attacks, and what might have been done differently.

At the weekend, Ms Ardern said the suspect had a gun licence, obtained in November 2017, and owned five guns.

Earlier on Monday, gun retailer Gun City said it had sold four weapons to the alleged gunman online, but it did not sell him the high-powered weapon used in the mosque shootings.

CEO David Tipple told a news conference in Christchurch it had only sold him A-category weapons. –BBC