WELLINGTON: New Zealand retailer Gun City, which sold weapons to the man accused of shootings at two Christchurch mosques that killed 51 people and injured dozens, has aroused concern with plans for a mega store in the South Island city, media said on Wednesday.
Radio New Zealand said some of those living near the proposed site were upset at the prospect of the store, sprawling over 300 sq m (3,229 sq ft), along with warehouse, office and carpark, set to open in August.
“I don’t think many people will be very comfortable to have guns around their homes in a residential area,” one of the residents, Harry Singh, told the broadcaster.
Gun City did not immediately reply to Reuters’ request for comment.
The location is just 1 km (0.62 miles) from the racetrack where New Zealand held its first firearms buyback on Saturday, four months after its worst peacetime mass shooting.
The accused gunman, Brenton Tarrant, bought four weapons and ammunition between December 2017 and March 2018, Gun City owner David Tipple said in March.
Tarrant, due to stand trial in May, has pleaded not guilty to 92 charges over the attacks, including New Zealand’s first terrorism charge.
Tipple told Radio New Zealand he was sorry some people were concerned about the new store, but the chain was “willing and happy to introduce those persons to the positives of firearms.”
A gun reform law passed in April bars the circulation and use of most semi-automatic firearms, parts to convert firearms into semi-automatics, magazines over a certain capacity and some shotguns.
The government has allotted NZ$208 million ($139 million) for buybacks nationwide to compensate gunowners who surrender banned weapons. Police took in 224 firearms on Saturday, with 22 similar events scheduled this week.
With a population of just under 5 million and an estimated 1.5 million firearms, New Zealand ranks 17th in the world in numbers of civilian firearms owners, the Small Arms Survey shows.
Gun megastore plan in New Zealand’s Christchurch sparks backlash
Gun megastore plan in New Zealand’s Christchurch sparks backlash
Afghan Taliban says Pakistan bombs Kabul in fresh escalation
KABUL: The Afghan government said on Friday that Pakistan had carried out fresh strikes on Kabul and several other provinces.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a post on X that Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia, Paktika, and some other areas, were targeted.
Pakistan has killed at least 641 Afghan Taliban operatives and injured more than 855 in the ongoing conflict between the two sides since last month, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Wednesday.
Islamabad has said its airstrikes, which have at times directly targeted the Afghan Taliban government, are aimed at ending Kabul’s support for militants carrying out attacks on Pakistan. The Taliban has denied aiding militant groups.
Fresh clashes between the two neighbors began on Feb. 26 after Afghanistan’s border forces launched attacks against Pakistani military installations. Kabul said the attack was in retaliation for Islamabad’s airstrikes earlier in February. Both forces have since then engaged in the worst fighting between them in decades.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have remained strained since the Afghan Taliban seized power in August 2021. Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks across the country in recent months that it blames on militants it alleges are based in Afghanistan. Kabul denies the allegations and insists that its soil is not used by militant groups for attacks against other countries.
While Afghanistan has voiced the desire for dialogue, Pakistan has repeatedly ruled out talks, saying it will continue targeting militant hideouts through “Operation Ghazab lil Haq” until Kabul desists from supporting militants.
