A Christchurch gun shop on Monday acknowledged selling guns online to the 28-year-old white supremacist accused of killing 50 people in mosque shootings that have upturned New Zealand’s reputation as among the world’s most tolerant and safe nations.
At a news conference, Gun City owner David Tipple said the store sold four guns and ammunition to Brenton Harrison Tarrant through a “police-verified online mail order process.”
The store “detected nothing extraordinary,” about the purchaser, he said.
None of the guns sold to Tarrant were military-style semi-automatic weapons. Calling for gun laws to be tightened, New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said the attacker used five guns, two of them semi-automatic, which were purchased with an ordinary gun license and modified.
It was not clear if any of the firearms Tarrant purchased from Gun City were used in Friday’s shootings.
“My staff and I are dismayed and disgusted by what happened last Friday afternoon,” Tipple said. “We cannot comprehend how such despicable actions could be carried out on those at prayer in a place of worship.”
Tipple said he felt no responsibility for the tragedy and refused to say whether he believed gun ownership laws should change in New Zealand, insisting a debate over guns should be held at another time.
“This man wrote in his manifesto that the purpose of using a firearm was to divide us,” Tipple said. “If we allow him to make changes in our ideology, in our behavior, he’s won.”
