Biden Wants to Take a Page From New Zealand’s Success on Gun Reform

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s visit to the U.S. is proving providential in light of recent mass shootings. Following her stirring message on U.S. television the night of the attacks, she’s now met with U.S. President Joe Biden, who expressed eagerness to learn from what he called her “galvanizing” leadership that saw her country ban military-grade guns after twin mass shootings in 2019. 

The U.S. has so far failed to take similar action to tighten gun ownership despite seeing last week its 4,634th mass shooting since 2013.

Both leaders had a list of talking points for their long-planned meeting at the White House on Tuesday. But what loomed large were the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas that killed 19 children and two teachers a week before, and another in Buffalo, New York that killed 10 Black people in a racist attack earlier this month. 

“Can I bring the sincere condolences of the people of Aotearoa New Zealand for what you have experienced in Texas and in New York?” Ardern told Biden as they sat in the Oval Office before beginning their private conversation that lasted more than an hour. “It’s been devastating to see the impact on those communities.”

Biden had praised Ardern just moments before, saying her “leadership has taken on a critical role in this global stage—and it really has—galvanizing action on climate change; the global effort to curb violence, extremism, and online, like [what] happened in Christchurch.”

“I want to work with you on that effort, and I want to talk to you about what those conversations were like, if you’re willing,” Biden continued, adding that he had “unfortunately” been to more mass shooting aftermaths than any president in U.S. history. 

“Our experience, of course, in this regard, is our own,” said Ardern, who would later tell reporters she recognizes differences between the two countries. “But if there’s anything that we can share that would be of any value, we are here to share it.”

Biden then mentioned “the work you’re doing with tech companies,” likely a reference to an effort Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron launched in 2019 to work with tech companies on weeding out extremist online content that’s been blamed for radicalizing young people. Biden said he wanted to join the effort, as his predecessor Donald Trump had declined to participate.

New Zealand’s swift action on gun reform spearheaded by Ardern in the wake of the Christchurch mass shootings has led many observers to point out a lack of political will in the U.S. to take similar action. This is despite the U.S. seeing a steady rise in active shooter incidents and gun deaths over the last decade.

During a speech she delivered at the Harvard commencement exercises last week, Ardern noted that gun reform alone wouldn’t stop mass shootings.

“We knew we needed significant gun reform, and so that is what we did,” she said. “But we also knew that if we wanted genuine solutions to the issue of violent extremism online, it would take government, civil society and the tech companies themselves to change the landscape.”

On March 15, 2019, a lone gunman entered two different mosques in the city of Christchurch and carried out two consecutive mass shootings, killing a total of 51 people and injuring 40 others. A week later, on March 21, Ardern announced a national ban on semi-automatic weapons, and less than a month later, New Zealand outlawed military-style semi-automatics, assault rifles, and associated parts altogether.

In contrast, proposals to tighten gun ownership have thus far failed to hurdle the U.S. Congress, largely due to Republican opposition and a strong gun lobby.

Besides mass shootings, Ardern and Biden also discussed climate change, global trade, the war in Ukraine, and geopolitical issues in the Pacific.

But as cameras were ushered out of the Oval Office to let the two leaders speak in private, Biden responded to a reporter’s question about meeting with lawmakers on gun reform.

“I will meet with the Congress on guns. I promise you.”

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