In the days that followed the Port Arthur massacre, Australia moved to ban semi-automatic weapons. More than 20 years later, New Zealand looks set to follow suit.
The April 1996 Port Arthur massacre, in which 35 people were killed, is the deadliest mass shooting in Australia's history. It prompted a
massive overhaul of the country's gun control laws, after killer Martin Bryant used two military style semi-automatic rifles to carry out his deadly spree.
Then Prime Minister John Howard led the development of strict gun control laws, restricting the private ownership of semi-automatic rifles, semi-automatic shotguns and pump-action shotguns, as well as introducing uniform firearms licensing.
"The bitter irony with this alleged perpetrator in Christchurch is he would not have been able to buy the weapons he had in his home country of Australia," said Chris Cahill, president of the Police Association, over the weekend.
"Immediately after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 the then Prime Minister John Howard acted swiftly to ban semi-automatic weapons and Australians were with him."
