New Zealand's prime minister vowed Monday to unveil gun law changes within a week and called on gun owners to surrender their firearms to police after last week's shooting rampage that left 50 people dead. "Within 10 days of this horrific act of terrorism, we will have announced reforms, which I believe will make our community safer," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. Ardern promised a review into security agencies after the mosque shootings, the New Zealand Herald reported. New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush said his officers would willingly accept guns from anyone who wanted to get rid of them. He suggested that people alert police ahead of time "given the current situation." Ardern said she "applauded" people who handed in weapons and encouraged more to do so. Some gun owners took to social media to share stories of giving up their semiautomatic rifles. John Hart, a farmer and Green Party member from the Wairarapa, said on Twitter he had owned a gun for 31 years. "On the farm they are a useful tool in some circumstances, but my convenience doesn’t outweigh the risk of misuse," Hart tweeted. "We don’t need these in our country." The New Zealand auction website Trade Me said it was pulling semiautomatic weapons from its sites. Trade Me CEO Jon Macdonald had previously argued that his site was a better venue for dealing in weapons than more nefarious alternatives. "But it is clear public sentiment has changed in relation to semiautomatic weapons, and we acknowledge that, which is why we're putting this ban in place," Macdonald said. Gun City, a Christchurch gun shop, said Monday that it sold four guns to the accused shooter online since November 2017. “We detected nothing extraordinary about the license holder,” store owner David Tipple said. Two of the guns used were semiautomatic weapons that had been modified. Monday, the man accused in the shooting, Brenton Tarrant, fired his lawyer and wants to represent himself at trial, the court-appointed lawyer said. Richard Peters said the accused killer expressed no condolences or regret in the brief time they spent together. "What did seem apparent to me is he seemed quite clear and lucid, whereas this may seem like very irrational behavior," Peters told the Herald. "He didn't appear to me to be facing any challenges or mental impairment, other than holding fairly extreme views."<doc-sep>Authorities in New Zealand said citizens have been turning their firearms over to police in the days after a terror attack that targeted two mosques in Christchurch left at least 50 people dead, The Guardian reports. New Zealand police confirmed to the international news agency that at least 37 firearms had been handed over across the country as of Tuesday evening. The report comes after New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern vowed her country would have new gun control proposals "within 10 days" following last week’s shooting. ADVERTISEMENT "Within 10 days of this horrific act of terrorism we will have announced reforms which will, I believe, make our community safer," Ardern said at a weekly Cabinet meeting on Monday. She also emerged from the meeting encouraging others in New Zealand to hand in their firearms to police and advised people who are interested in purchasing a firearm to wait several days before doing so to gain more understanding on the country’s laws. “As the prime minister announced, anybody wanting to surrender their firearms to police is welcome to do so,” New Zealand police advised the public, according to The Guardian. Local police also urged people interested in surrendering their firearms to contact and alert authorities when they would be bringing in a firearm to keep tensions from rising amid heightened security concerns. “You can contact your local police station or your local arms officer to get advice on the safe transport of the firearm to police. This will also enable our staff to be aware of your arrival ahead of time.” John Hart, who previously ran as Green Party candidate in the country’s 2017 election, was one of a number of New Zealanders who have surrendered their firearms to police in recent days. Hart, who also owns a sheep and beef farm near Masterton, told The Guardian that while having a semi-automatic rifle is useful for a number of tasks on his farm, he felt it was “actually too dangerous to have around as a weapon.” Until today I was one of the New Zealanders who owned a semi-automatic rifle. On the farm they are a useful tool in some circumstances, but my convenience doesn’t outweigh the risk of misuse. We don’t need these in our country. We have make sure it’s #NeverAgain pic.twitter.com/crLCQrOuLc — John Hart (@farmgeek) March 18, 2019 “For me, it became that trade-off: is my convenience worth the risk to other people’s lives by having these guns in the country? I pretty quickly realized there was no comparison. We’ll cope without semi-automatic weapons, we won’t cope without the people who were taken from us from these events,” Hart said. “I recognize one person handing in a gun to the police is not going to change the world, but it’s a start, the country is now one gun safer than it was before,” he added.<doc-sep>New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern encouraged gun owners to surrender their weapons after announcing that her government is set to tighten gun laws in the country. Mark Baker / AP Zaed Mustafa at his brother's and father's burial in Christchurch. A few New Zealand gun owners have begun voluntarily surrendering their firearms to local police in the wake of the Christchurch mosque shootings last week that left at least 50 people dead. New Zealand police said that as of Tuesday night, 37 firearms had been surrendered to police nationwide. They did not provide a breakdown of how many people owned those guns, the types of firearms, or the districts where the guns were surrendered. New Zealand has an estimated 1.2 million guns registered to civilians, according to the 2017 Small Arms Survey. That's about 1 gun for every 4 people. In the US, it's estimated there is more than one gun per person. A day after the mass shooting at the two mosques in Christchurch, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that her government intends to change gun laws in the country, including a potential ban on the type of military-style semiautomatic weapons that were allegedly used by the suspect in the shootings. Mark Tantrum / Getty Images Jacinda Ardern Ardern also encouraged New Zealand's gun owners to surrender their weapons. "To make our community safer, the time to act is now," Ardern said on Monday. "I want to remind people, you can surrender your gun to the police at any time. In fact I have seen reports that people are in fact already doing this. I applaud that effort, and if you are thinking about surrendering your weapon, I would encourage you to do so." Ardern acknowledged that tightening gun laws in the country where gun ownership is common in the rural and farming communities would create "a small degree of uncertainty among some gun owners who possess guns for legitimate reasons." She assured gun owners that the forthcoming gun law changes were not directed at them. Ardern’s announcement set off several news reports suggesting that New Zealand’s gun owners were turning in their weapons after the attack. Most reports cited three tweets, including that of John Hart, a farmer and Green Party member from Wairarapa, who told BuzzFeed News he surrendered his semiautomatic rifle two days after the attack. He tweeted a photo of the form he signed to hand over his rifle to the police to be destroyed, saying, "We don't need these in our country. We have to make sure it's #NeverAgain." Until today I was one of the New Zealanders who owned a semi-automatic rifle. On the farm they are a useful tool in some circumstances, but my convenience doesn’t outweigh the risk of misuse. We don’t need these in our country. We have make sure it’s #NeverAgain Hart said that before the mosque shooting, he hadn't given much thought to the idea of not owning a semiautomatic rifle since gun ownership was common in farming communities like his and guns were viewed by most as a useful tool to control wild pigs and goats. "New Zealand had never experienced anything like this in living memory so it was definitely a shock to see that kind of violence arrive here," Hart said. "When our prime minister announced that our gun laws need to change I realized I completely agreed with her." Hart said it was "an easy decision" to hand over his semiautomatic as the inconvenience of not having it "was completely outweighed by the risk of another massacre." "As long as this class of weapon exists in New Zealand, there is a chance they could be used again in this way," Hart said. Another Kiwi — who owned a firearm for 31 years — said that after Friday's atrocity giving up his gun was "one of the easiest decisions I have ever made." The reason he gave in the form to surrender his rifle was: "Doesn't want it." Since I first heard about the atrocity on Friday afternoon I have reflected and reserved my thoughts. Monday morning - this is one of the easiest decisions I have ever made. Have owned a firearm for 31 years. Describing the moments before he took his gun to the local police station, he wrote on Twitter, "I cleaned it. Worked the action. Looked down the scope. Felt the stock. Smelt the mixture of steel and oil. Remembered some hunts. Put it in it’s travel case and took it down to the local Police Station. Things change." Another person on Twitter who said she is a grandmother who had used guns since she was 9, tweeted that she requested for her family's guns to be handed in for destruction. When my husband died his guns were handed to family holding the requisite license. Daughter of crack shot food hunting parents, I have used guns from the age of 9. Today I requested that those guns be handed in for destruction. Pete Breidahl, a former New Zealand Army soldier, who said he had warned local police about extremism at a rifle club where the suspected shooter was a member, also said he had given up his guns. Breidahl told Time magazine that local police had ignored his warning in 2017 about the Bruce Rifle Club outside the university town of Dunedin. On his only visit to the club, Breidahl said that he had encountered members who held "homicidal fantasies" and anti-Muslim views. He said that he had gotten rid of his guns after Friday's terror attack. "All I want is to go back to my horses, say goodbye to firearms and the bullshit shooting community and its drama and let the police and government sort this one out," Breidahl wrote in a Facebook post. "I don’t NEED, want or care about guns. I can happily live my life without them." The New Zealand police requested gun owners to call their local police station or local arms officer before attempting to surrender their firearms at the station. Gun owners then have to sign a form and hand over the firearms to police. "As the prime minister announced, anybody wanting to surrender their firearms to Police is welcome to do so," the New Zealand police said. Trade Me, which bills itself as New Zealand's largest and most popular auction and classifieds site, announced that it was halting the sale of semiautomatic weapons on its platform following the shooting. Hunting & Fishing New Zealand — a national chain of more than 30 stores selling hunting equipment — said it was removing all military-style assault weapons from their shelves. "As far as we are concerned, they will never return," the company said in a Facebook post, adding that it supported any government measure to permanently ban such weapons. "While we have sold them in the past to a small number of customers, last week’s events have forced a reconsideration that has led us to believe such weapons of war have no place in our business — or our country," the company said. "Irrespective of gun law changes now or in the future, Hunting & Fishing New Zealand stores will no longer stock military-style assault firearms of any classification or category — whether rimfire, shot shell and centrefire configuration."<doc-sep>
(CNN) — A farmer in New Zealand packed up his semi-automatic firearm Monday and surrendered it to police. The weight of the terror attacks on two mosques in New Zealand and the thought of what could happen if the gun fell into the wrong hands made John Hart voluntarily turn in his firearm, he said. “I had had that gun since it was made. I was glad it had never harmed a person,” Hart, 46, told CNN. “Now I can know that it never harmed a person, so I have some reassurance in that.” Friday’s attacks killed 50 people in the nation which has had relatively few gun-related deaths. The shooter’s weapons including two semi-automatic firearms and two shotguns, according to New Zealand officials. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters Monday that the government would reform the country’s gun laws. Hart has been a gun owner for almost two decades, he said. He owns a 50-acre farm in Masterton, New Zealand, where he raises sheep and beef. He said he thought a lot before making his decision and ultimately, he felt a “bit of relief.” Until today I was one of the New Zealanders who owned a semi-automatic rifle. On the farm they are a useful tool in some circumstances, but my convenience doesn’t outweigh the risk of misuse. We don’t need these in our country. We have make sure it’s #NeverAgain pic.twitter.com/crLCQrOuLc — John Hart 🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗 (@farmgeek) March 18, 2019 He said he had purchased the semi-automatic firearm to help with killing goats and wild pigs to aid in pest control on the farm. Hart said he still has other guns on the farm for “chores and euthanizing animals.” “For me, the main reasoning was that these types of weapons are convenient for some types of tasks, but they aren’t the only way to perform those tasks,” Hart said. “To my mind, the tradeoff of having the convenience of that weapon versus having it misused, it just wasn’t worth it. I think that we should not have these in our country in the wake of what happened,” he said. “It felt like the perfectly logical thing to do was to surrender mine.” Turning in his firearm was a simple, quick process, Hart said. He filled out an arms surrender form and notified police he would be bringing the gun to the station. “In southern New Zealand, you are able to give up firearms with no questions asked,” Hart said. “With the terror attack, we’re on a heightened awareness, so I really didn’t want to walk up to police station with a gun with armed guards outside.” He’s not alone in voluntarily surrendering his firearm. Some gun owners in New Zealand turned to social media on Monday to post their stories of why they gave up their guns. Twitter user Blackstone shared a redacted version of an arms surrender form Monday, stating the reason for return as “doesn’t want it.” The gun owner declined to speak with media, as posted on Twitter. “Since I first heard about the atrocity on Friday afternoon I have reflected and reserved my thoughts,” Blackstone wrote on Twitter. “Monday morning - this is one of the easiest decisions I have ever made. Have owned a firearm for 31 years.” A woman named Fey Hag also posted on Twitter about turning in her guns for destruction by police. She did not respond to CNN’s request for an interview. “When my husband died his guns were handed to family holding the requisite license,” she wrote. “Daughter of crack shot food hunting parents, I have used guns from the age of 9. Today I requested that those guns be handed in for destruction.” Hart said he has been “overwhelmed” by the feedback he has received online after posting about surrendering his firearm. Many of the comments were positive, but there were a fair number of gun owners posting negative comments, he said. “I’m fairly confident that we will have a positive outcome from this,” Hart said in response to New Zealand saying it would reform laws. “[Jacinda Ardern] has already committed to changing the gun laws and we need to see how that plays out.”