FAKE NEWS: MSM says New Zealanders eager to surrender their guns

Remember how the mainstream media told us how New Zealanders eagerly wished to surrender their guns in the aftermath of the attack on a pair of Christchurch mosques?  Yes, the narrative said that Kiwis had the common sense to voluntarily surrender those evil guns.  Something American gun owners just don't have.

• The Blaze:  New Zealand gun owners begin voluntarily surrendering their weapons to authorities in wake of Christchurch massacre
• The UK Independent (Indy100):  New Zealand gun owners are handing in their weapons following last week's mosque attack
• Newsweek:  New Zealand Gun Owners Are Voluntarily Handing Over Semiautomatic Rifles to Police: 'We Don't Need These in Our Country'
• UK Guardian:  Christchurch shooting: gun owners begin to hand in their weapons
  Dozens of firearms have been handed in to stations around New Zealand after appeal from Jacinda Ardern
• New York Post:  New Zealand gun owners voluntarily giving up firearms in wake of mosque massacre 

Well, those headlines merely perpetuated nothing but fake news.

In reality, out of 1.2 million registered guns in New Zealand, gun owners there surrendered a total of…  37.  Three dozen plus one.

ZeroHedge has the gory details:

Following reports that a flood of New Zealand gun owners have been voluntarily surrending their firearms in the wake of last Friday's Christchurch mosque attack that left 50 dead, the numbers are in on how many Kiwis actually handed over their weapons.

Out of an estimated 1.2 million registered guns, New Zealand police report that as of Tuesday night, 37 firearms have been surrenderednationwide, according to BuzzFeed.

No accounting was provided of how many people owned those guns, the types of firearms, or where they were surrendered.

The reports of citizens disarming themselves came after a Monday announcement by Prime minister Jacinda Ardern that several "in principle decisions" on gun control have been made by Cabinet ministers, while praising residents who have surrendered their guns to police.

So far, we know of four people who have; Green Party member John Hart and longtime gun owner "@SirWB" – who each turned in a rifle, a grandmother who goes by the Twitter handle "@FeyHag" who said she requested for her family's guns to be handed in for destruction, and former New Zealand Army soldier Pete Breidahl – who said he warned local police of extremists at a local rifle club where he said he suspected the shooter was a member.

"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," wrote Breidahl in a Facebook post. "I don’t NEED, want or care about guns. I can happily live my life without them."

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.

— Fey Hag (@FeyHag) March 18, 2019

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. pic.twitter.com/fBFqfd0gTm

— Blackstone (@SirWB) March 17, 2019

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

As a side note:  Just curious why they redacted the descriptions of their gun(s).  Single shot rifles don't have nearly the "excitability" factor as a modern sporting rifle.  Or a homeland defense rifle… 

Meanwhile, it seems as though the owners of about 1.2 million other guns feel very differently than Private Pete Briedahl and these other two virtual signalers and a tiny handful of others. 

What's more, brave Bridedahl claims to police that he knows of more "extremists" at his local rifle club.

Someone should tell him that extremism in pursuit of liberty is no vice.