National lists demands for firearm law reform
The first reading of the Arms Legislation Bill is due to be held tomorrow, but the National Party has today listed 13 changes they want to see made to the bill.
They include clubs and shooting ranges only having to notify police, rather than seeking their approval and certification.
It also wants to keep the license duration at 10 years and new exemptions for sports shooting and pest control.
National’s police spokesperson Brett Hudson said the reforms shouldn’t unduly impact law-abiding citizens.
National won’t support the second tranche of gun reform laws because they are soft on “crims, gangs and extremists”.
Really?
Here are the reforms…
- Establishing a firearms register
- Make owning a gun a “privilege” that comes with obligations
- Tighten the rules to obtain and keep a gun licence
- Tighten the rules for gun dealers to get and keep a licence
- Require licences to be renewed every five years
- Not allow visitors to purchase guns in New Zealand
- Introduce a new warning system for police so they can intervene if they have concerns about a licence holder’s behaviour
- Introduce a licencing system for shooting clubs and ranges
- Set up an expert group to advise the police on firearms
- Introduce new advertising standards around guns
- Require licences to buy magazines, parts and ammunition
- Increase penalties and introduce new offences
I’m not sure how any of that is soft on crims, gangs and extremists. As far as I can understand the argument, these regulations are all focused on ‘law abiding’ gun owners and because National believe ‘law abiding’ gun owners aren’t the problem there’s no reason to regulate guns.
Which seems terribly awkward, twisted and confused.
Look, no one wants to punish ‘law abiding’ gun owners, but surely in the wake of the worst white supremacist terror attack on NZ soil using glam semi-automatics, banning those weapons and tightening the rules around gun ownership is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.
National’s own suggestion to give Police more powers to search Gang Member cars and houses for guns seems bizarre seeing as the white supremacist terrorist who butchered and murdered 101 people wasn’t a member of Black Power or the Mongrel Mob.
Surely white supremacist terrorism is the problem here, not gang members.
What makes all of this so shameless is the fact that National played up the very alt-right UN conspiracy that the white supremacist terrorist scrawled all over his guns and magazines.
If I had promoted a false far right conspiracy that then inspired a terror attack, I sure as Christ wouldn’t dare grandstand on the gun laws after that atrocity.
The reality is that we do not want the NZ gun lobby to get any of the power the American gun lobby does, watching National attempt that when they had a hand in promoting the corrupt thinking that inspired this white supremacist is politics at its most ugly.
Here is a prominent firearms lawyers take on some major issues with tranche 2 anyone genuinely interested in what is hidden in these laws should read:
https://huntingspots.co.nz/journal/article/10_things_to_be?fbclid=IwAR1PMrcfnP_W5fLOD7M3qrS
Some select quotes:
Re Gun register
“vi) Serial numbers. If firearms are stolen, the argument that “the guns can be traced” is nonsense, as within the space of one minute, using a grinder purchased from Bunnings for $100, all serial numbers on all guns can (and are, in my experience with numerous cases) ground off. A serial number on a gun is not magic.”
Re shooting ranges
“Overall this is complex and bureaucratic, with the reasoning behind these new requirements not being clear. It is written in such a way that makes an ad hoc sighting-in or target practice in the back of a farmer’s field unlawful without a certificate issued from the Commissioner of Police.”
Re warrantless entry to people’s houses
“The reality of the increase in this power for the police to enter a persons home for no better reason than the fact that they hold a standard firearm licence, is that it is very often abused because of the misinterpretation, both accidental and deliberate, by individual attending police officers. ”
Re loss of right to silence
“The right to silence is a fundamental right of all New Zealanders and is a common law right. The NZ Bill of Rights indicates that a person, if arrested or detained, has the right to silence”
“This is a major and serious departure in NZ legislative history and should be considered extremely carefully before such an important precedent in legislation is set”
Re allowing Police commissioner to make law
“The discretion and policymaking abilities of the Commissioner of Police has increased by 70% from the previous Arms Act. The Commissioner’s creation and police policy-making abilities outside of parliament have been greatly problematic in the past. Numerous times in the last 15 years a Commissioner of Police “created” policies and used their discretion, and the courts have later found this to be unreasonable and unlawful.
The unfettered and almost uncontrolled increase in the powers of the Police and Commissioner for policy making (eg.conditions imposed, forms of permits etc) will lead, in effect, to law changes outside of parliamentary control, and may result in the criminalisation of individuals not caught by the legislation but by the change in a police-made policy, or a discretion determined, or a form created.”
Re lack of recourse over Police Commissioners laws
“There is currently no appeal process outlined for a person who is issued with a “temporary suspension notice” (s 60 A (1)) issued by a member of police (not even a commissioned officer in this instance).”
Re compulsory to give details to police
“This would allow police to require a person, who may or may not be in actual physical possession of one of the items specified, or even just an airgun, to be forced, through threat of six months imprisonment or a fine of $10,000, to answer questions from the police. ”
Relentless lies and misrepresentation from Police Association and media have their desired effect of demonising law abiding gun owners:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/116174865/afghanistan-war-veteran-mocked-for-taking-service-dog-to-gun-buyback-event
“A man who took a bullet for his country is getting over the ordeal of being “interrogated” after he tried to get into a gun buyback event with his support dog in Canterbury.”
Guess he’s just another gun nut eh.
saw the following elsewhere, thought Id post it here
Let’s talk about the process they are going through for the new bill:
They are only allowing 1 month for submissions
They are not allowing email submissions
They have instructed the committees to lump similar responses together instead of counting them separately
They are limiting who is allowed to talk again – they are selecting the speakers.
Normally something that affects rural people more than urban would result in them having hearings/meetings in the regions – they are refusing to do this this time. It’s all done in wellington.
They are pushing to have it back from select committee before the royal commission is done (so they have no idea what they are “fixing” because the report on what went wrong won’t be available)
They are pushing to have the date it goes into law on the 12 month anniversary of Christchurch – good way to make anyone that disagrees with it look like shit due to emotion.
Emotion shouldn’t be the basis of law.
Labour and the greens voted down Nationals firearms prohibition orders where gangs wouldn’t be allowed gun licenses and gang houses could be raided without a warrant because of concerns for civil liberties,
Yet here we are with tranche 2 labour/greens are inflicting warrantless searches and worse on the law abiding!
Got to look after those gangs.
Incredible.
Also penalties for gun owners are far higher (double or more) non license holders for gun crime.
Remember the gang thug who smacked his Mrs in the face and was arrested with a pistol in his car who got home detention?
It’s 5 years jail for a license holder with a now prohibited gun found on their property.
By way of further stupidity, as the new laws stand you get a lesser sentence for possession of a firearm illegally converted to full auto, than a semi auto.
It may well be deliberate and an ideologically driven attempt at intentionally stripping rights and criminalizing 250 000 citizens.
The only other explanation is massive, breathtaking incompetence.
If it is true that registration of a gun can be negated by simply grinding off the gun registration number, the solution must be to make it illegal to deface or to sell a gun which has been tampered with in such a way that its registration is illegible. To me that is clearly a blatantly anti-social thingf to do.
Man I hope this is a joke post.
Some of this is fine some in my opinion is a predictable over reaction which is typical of government in this country over the years on a range of issues. I used to hold a fire arms license (i let it lapse as I don’t really like guns and stopped owning them). That said when I hunted with my dad it was actually policed pretty well with sensible rules and a decent licensing process.
I do agree that foreigners should not be allowed instant access and there should be a through vetting process in place for those who come to take part in events that use firearms.
Wow. Such ignorance with such confidence behind it.
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