NEW ZEALAND is set to change its gun laws within the next 10 days in the wake of the Christchurch terror attacks in which 50 Muslim worshippers were killed in two mosques.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the cabinet was “completely unified” in reforming gun legislation although the Labour Party leader did not give concrete details on proposed changes.

“Within 10 days of this horrific act of terrorism we will have announced reforms which will, I believe, make our community safer,” she told a news conference.

Coalition partner and Deputy PM Winston Peters, from the New Zealand First Party who has previously opposed changes, told those gathered that he fully backed Ms Ardern’s proposals

“The reality is that after 1pm on Friday, our world changed forever and so will our laws,” he said.

The cabinet will spend the rest of this week thrashing out the details of the changes.

Under current gun laws A-category weapons can be semi-automatic but limited to seven shots. However, there have been calls for semi-automatic weapons to be banned altogether in New Zealand since the terror attacks.

It is estimated there are around 1.2 million firearms privately owned in the country according to the 2017 small arms survey. 

Previous attempts to tighten legislation have been resisted by New Zealand’s influential gun lobby.

Gun City owner David Tipple confirmed the company sold lead suspect Brenton Tarrant four firearms, however said the weapon used to carry out the killings was not one of them.

He hinted at a press conference that he did not think guns were the issue behind the mosque terror attacks

“I had my grandson say to me: ‘Grandad, why do people think the guns were the problem? The guy was crazy.’ He is six years old,” he said.

Mr Tarrant has been charged with murder and will appear in the High Court in Christchurch on April 5.