From Aramoana to Christchurch: A Shorthand of New Zealand’s Relationship With Guns

On a Tuesday in November 1990, the sleepy town of Aramoana was burned into New Zealand's collective consciousness.

The 13 residents killed in a gun rampage that shocked the nation were, until Friday’s attacks in Christchurch, victims of the country’s worst-ever mass shooting, one that opened a widespread reevaluation of New Zealand’s relationship with firearms. All subsequent gun debates here have been guided by the tragic events in Aramoana and their soul-searching aftermath.

Nearly three decades later, another is having a similar effect. The terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques has focused international attention to the country’s gun laws on Monday. “I can tell you one thing right now,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the wake of the shooting. “Our gun laws will change.”