New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern receives standing ovation at Harvard over gun control comment

Jacinda Ardern delivered the commencement address at Harvard University on Friday. (Image credit: @Harvard/Twitter)

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern received a standing ovation as she spoke about gun reform at Harvard University days after the horrific Texas school shooting in which one gunman killed 19 children and two adults in an elementary school.

Jacinda Ardern delivered the commencement address at Harvard University on Friday morning. After cracking a few jokes, she moved on to talk about the laws New Zealand has passed in the last decade, including the introduction of gay marriage and banning conversion therapy.

Ardern then received a standing ovation and loud cheers as she spoke of how her country banned “military-style semi-automatics and assault rifles” in wake of the 2019 mass shooting at Christchurch.

Take a look:

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gets a standing ovation when discussing how New Zealand passed laws to ban “military-style semi-automatics and assault rifles.”

She gave the @Harvard commencement address, days after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas https://t.co/xm1q6eEbre pic.twitter.com/rX0aMYrdZf

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Ardern announced a ban on the sale of semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles two days after the shooting, in which one man killed dozens with legally-purchased firearms.

Her comment on gun reform at Harvard comes at a time when the United States is seeing renewed calls for stricter gun laws after the Texas massacre.

In the past, despite recurring mass-casualty shootings, multiple initiatives to reform gun regulations have failed in the US Congress, leaving state and local governments to strengthen -- or weaken -- their own restrictions.

After the Texas shooting in Uvalde, US President Joe Biden called on the American people to stand up to the gun lobby and press members of Congress to pass sensible gun laws.

(With inputs from AFP)