Gun buy-back: NZ pays $200,000 to 68 gun owners

New Zealand lawmakers came with a new legislation to ban military-style weapons.

Christchurch: Four months after the Christchurch shootings, dozens of gun owners on Saturday handed over their weapons for cash in a gun buy-back event in New Zealand.

In the first couple of hours of the event, police paid over 200,000 New Zealand dollars (approx. 134,000 US dollars) to 68 gun owners.

Earlier in April New Zealand lawmakers came with new legislation to ban military-style weapons.

On March 15 a gunman had killed 51 people at two mosques of Christchurch.

The New Zealand government has set aside more than 200 million dollars to compensate owners of semi-automatic weapons.