New Zealand promised and delivered a gun ban. Here's why the U.S. can't do the same

The gun-policy changes were dramatic and, remarkably, for a Western-aligned nation with a strong pro-firearms lobby, the reforms came swiftly.But this was New Zealand's government, not the United States congress."New Zealand will ban all military-style, semi-automatic weapons," the island nation's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared on Thursday, laying out immediate plans to halt sales[1] of certain firearms, less than a week after a mass shooting at two mosques in Christchurch claimed the lives of at least 50 worshippers."We will ban all assault rifles. We will ban all high-capacity magazines," Ardern announced.Jacinda Ardern announces ban on military style semi-automatics and assault rifles 3:16Andrew Patrick, a spokesperson with the Washington-based Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, followed the news with a mix of astonishment and admiration. The action taken in New Zealand, he said, "is what we should expect from our leaders in America."Within days, he pointed out, Ardern had delivered changes. Contrast that to what took place in the immediate aftermath of the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School[2] in Connecticut, when a gunman murdered 26 people, most of them children.At the time, gun-control activists and survivors demanded a similar ban[3] on assault-style military weapons. More than six years on, they're still waiting.But don't hold your breath for a New Zealand-style ban to suddenly look plausible in the United States. The major barrier, experts say, is the National Rifle Association (NRA).People look at firearms and accessories on display at Gun City gunshop in Christchurch, New Zealand. New Zealand is home to an estimated 1.2 million guns. (Jorge Silva/Reuters)New Zealand has actually been trying to bring in restrictive gun laws to prevent a tragedy such as last week's mosque attack for nearly a quarter of a century. What stymied those recommendations, according to Phil Alpers, was the country's influential gun lobby and its heavy hand in

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