, Columnist
New Zealand Has Banned Rifles. Why Can't America Do the Same?
The U.S. has been moving decisively toward gun regulation. Chief Justice John Roberts has the power to stop it.
It could all depend on the chief justice.
Photographer: Jabin Botsford/Bloomberg
This article is for subscribers only.
New Zealand banned semi-automatic rifles this week, and made the ban effective immediately to prevent “stockpiling of weapons while the legislation is being drafted.” The Kiwis are apparently not big on the “hopes and prayers” mantra that the U.S. Congress adopts after each gun massacre.
It’s easy to be dispirited by the cravenness of conservative politicians, and by the frequency of American gun deaths. Yet those failures obscure a key development in U.S. gun politics: These are glory days for the gun-safety movement.