Words by Anjum Rahman, project founder.

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to speak at a hui about proposed changes to firearms legislation, particularly related to the Arms (Prohibited Firearms, Magazines, and Parts) Amendment Act 2019. This was the legislation that banned the kind of military-style semi-automatic weapons that were used in the Christchurch mosques attacks.

It’s so difficult to speak to this topic, as it brings back memories of presenting to the Select Committee mere weeks after the attack, and how strong our grief and pain was then. It hurts now to know that there might be changes to this legislation, for the purposes of competitions. There are plenty of firearm competitions that don’t involve these weapons, it is not a necessity nor a huge loss to have competitions that include these weapons. Our lives are more important than a competition.

We have seen what happens when the gun lobby has undue influence with government. This article tells a story of results: more than 600 mass shootings a year over the last three years.

A mass shooting is one where 4 or more people are injured or killed. Killing from the use of firearms made up 80.5% of all homicides in 2021 – so much higher than other countries.

Img. from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41488081

The statistic that was the saddest and most appalling was spending after the Sandy Hooks massacre. Of the 26 people killed, 20 were children between six and seven years old. The response was an increase of spending from around USD7.5million in 2012 to close to USD20million in 2013 by guns rights groups, magnitudes higher than gun control groups. The response to the deaths of children was to pour money into ensuring gun laws would not be more restrictive.

We can’t allow this to happen here. We know that the majority of citizens in US favour stricter controls on guns. We can not let the voices of community to be ignored, nor our lives put at risk. These particular weapons allow killers to kill more people in a shorter amount of time. They are not needed here.

BBC article referenced: ‘How many US mass shootings have there been in 2023?’