The sole New Zealand politician opposing changes to the country's gun laws has missed a vote to slow the reforms because he was grandstanding to reporters outside the debating chamber.
Kiwi members of parliament on Tuesday began the fast-tracked process to introduce bans on military-style semi-automatics, as well as other changes, in response to last month's terror attack on mosques in Christchurch.
The government had been looking to get the unanimous support required to speed up the process of passing the bill without resorting to special urgency measures, hoping to put the new laws in place by the end of next week.
The libertarian ACT party's leader and only MP, David Seymour, had thrown a spanner in the works by pledging opposition.
However, as the house gathered and held the vote in the afternoon, Seymour was not in his seat. Instead, he was outside explaining to reporters why he would be voting against the proposal.
"What this government is proposing to do is suspend, in all sincerity, public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny of its law-making so it can rush through a law in nine days," Seymour said.
Afterwards, an embarrassed Seymour laughed the matter off, saying the bill would have been pushed through regardless and accusing the government of bringing the motion forward due to his tardiness.
"I'm not going to be so responsive to journalists questions in future," he joked.
The Leader of the House, Labour MP Chris Hipkins, also seemed to see the funny side, struggling not to smile as he emerged from the chamber.
"If you want to be a parliamentarian you actually have to show up to parliament," Hipkins told reporters.
The first vote is now set to be held shortly, with the next stage of consultations to begin later in the evening.
Seymour will still be the only member of the 120-seat parliament to oppose the laws, which also include strict new firearms penalties and bans of some modifications.
The changes were announced six days after the shootings that killed 50 people and injured 50 more.
