Christchurch shootings: NZ cabinet backs tighter gun laws

New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern has said she will announce detailed gun law reforms within days, after an attack on two mosques left 50 people dead.

Ms Ardern said her cabinet had backed gun law changes "in principle".

Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a self-described white supremacist, has been charged with murder.

Police say the killer used military-style assault weapons modified to make them more deadly for the attack – all of which is legal under current laws.

Friday's events had sparked calls for reform, with Ms Ardern saying soon after that "our gun laws will change".

What has the cabinet agreed?

No specific details were given by the prime minister at her press conference on Monday, but she said they would made clear by 25 March.

"This ultimately means that within 10 days of this horrific act of terrorism we will have announced reforms which will, I believe, make our community safer," she said.

Ms Ardern was appearing alongside her coalition partner and Deputy PM Winston Peters, who has previously opposed changes.

He said he fully supported the prime minister on the issue, adding: "The reality is that after one PM on Friday, our world changed forever and so will our laws."

Ms Ardern said: "We have made a decision as a cabinet, we are unified."

She also announced that an inquiry would look into the lead-up to the attacks, and what might have been done differently.

What do we know about the guns used?

At the weekend, Ms Ardern said the suspect had a gun licence, obtained in November 2017, and owned five guns.

Earlier on Monday, gun retailer Gun City said it had sold four weapons to the alleged gunman online, but it did not sell him the high-powered weapon used in the mosque shootings.

"The MSSA, military-style automatic, reportedly used by the alleged gunman was not purchased from Gun City," CEO David Tipple told a news conference in Christchurch, saying that it had only sold him A-category weapons.

Under the country's gun laws, A-category weapons can be semi-automatic but limited to seven shots. Video footage of the attacks appeared to show the gunman with a larger magazine round, which is also available legally.

There are an estimated 1.5 million privately owned firearms in the country.

Since the attack there have been calls for semi-automatic weapons to be banned, a regulation that exists in Australia and Canada.

Previous attempts to tighten gun laws have failed due to a strong gun lobby and a culture of hunting.