Greater Christchurch mosque shootings

New Zealand [2019]

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July 22, 2026

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The Christchurch mosque shootings occurred on March 15, 2019, when an Australian white supremacist attacked two mosques in Greater Christchurch, New Zealand, during Friday prayers. The assailant killed 51 people and injured dozens more. This event was characterized as a terrorist attack by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, marking one of the darkest days in New Zealand's history.12

In response, New Zealand banned military-style semi-automatic rifles, tightened gun dealer regulations, and established a national firearms registry. This incident was the worst mass shooting in modern New Zealand history, surpassing a 1990 event in Aramoana where 13 people were killed. The attacks prompted significant debate about gun control in a country with a high rate of gun ownership.12

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Jacinda Ardern
The March 2019 mosque attacks in Greater Christchurch
In March 2019 Ardern was called upon to lead and comfort her country in the wake of what she characterized as one of its “darkest days,” after the mass shootings and attack on a mosque in central…
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In March 2019 Ardern was called upon to lead and comfort her country in the wake of what she characterized as one of its “darkest days,” after the mass shootings and attack on a mosque in central…
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New Zealand
The Jacinda Ardern government (2017–23)
…mosques in Greater Christchurch were attacked on the afternoon of March 15, resulting in the deaths of some 50 people and injuries to about 50 others. Allegedly, shortly before beginning the rampage, the suspect, a 28-year-old Australian national who was a white supremacist, published a 74-page hate-filled anti-immigrant manifesto on…
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…mosques in Greater Christchurch were attacked on the afternoon of March 15, resulting in the deaths of some 50 people and injuries to about 50 others. Allegedly, shortly before beginning the rampage, the suspect, a 28-year-old Australian national who was a white supremacist, published a 74-page hate-filled anti-immigrant manifesto on…
Read More