Recoiling from Gun Control
ON MARCH 15, 2019, A GUNMAN WALKED INTO two Muslim places of worship in Christchurch, New Zealand, and shot 51 people dead. He started at the Al Noor Mosque, continued to the Linwood Islamic Center and was merciless; the youngest of his victims was 3 years old, the oldest 77. Forty-nine people were injured. Police found five guns at the scene—two semi-automatic weapons, two shotguns and a lever-action firearm. The alleged gunman Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian, had acquired a New Zealand gun license in November 2017, and had collected these weapons legally.
New Zealand’s political response was swift. Briana Spainhour, 20, regional organizing director for the student-led March for Our Lives movement formed in the wake of the killings at Marjory Stoneman
