While on a visit to the US, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern shared her country’s experience with gun reform in a discussion with Democratic and Republican representatives on Wednesday.
“New Zealand had its own horrific experience, and…we made changes as a result,” Ardern said, referring to the 2019 mass casualty mosque shootings in Christchurch.
“We are a nation that has very legitimate use of guns within our society…and yet still, we were able…with almost unanimous wide support to make those changes.”
Ardern said it is not for her to tell others what to do.
“It’s not for me as the leader of a of a nation with different histories and experiences to tell other nations what they should or should not do,” adding, “I was not here to do anything more than share the experience that New Zealand has had (in) our own reform and the role it’s played.”
The Prime Minister arrived in the US earlier this week on a trade mission to support export growth and the return of tourists post-Covid-19.
Reacting to the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, while appearing on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” an emotional Ardern said she saw the events “not as a politician,” but “as a mother,” adding she was “so sorry” for what happened.
