Sensible Shooters
Shooters are disgusted with the pantomime of change announced by Minister Poto Williams.
Shooters are furious about the Police shell game and the evasiveness of the minister avoiding and not answering questions from the Ombudsman and other MP’s about the independent firearms authority for many months.
The Police Minister has also lied to Parliament in her answer to written questions where the minister said she was committed to introducing an independent firearms authority.
The introduction of the NOT so Independent Police Firearms Authority smells very fishy and looks like dodgy backroom deals were done so Police wouldn’t lose the firearms cash cow.
To recap, a catastrophic failure by Police in charge of firearms regulations and licensing resulted in the horrific violence in Christchurch that cost 51 lives and this systemic failure of Police is ongoing. Police Commissioner Andrew Coster apologized after the Royal Commission found gun licensing “lax and open to easy exploitation”.
Further, Jacinda Ardern‘s Government promised to implement an Independent Firearms Authority, an idea that was proposed by Justice Sir Thomas Thorp in 1997 when he reviewed the firearms laws.
The Independent Firearms Authority was the solution, a sensible separation of licensing from Police enforcement in the same way vehicle licensing was separated from Police. The Government has now reneged on that promise. Shooters have been betrayed, yet again.
Police failures include the catastrophic admission that Police have armed 1,132 criminals because they have arrived from Australia voluntarily.
Police are about policing and enforcement, they are not regulators or licensors.
It is obvious that Police cannot wear two hats with vehicle licensing and enforcement. However, according to the minister, Police can now wear two hats with firearms licensing and enforcement.
In 2004 the Land Transport Safety Authority (now the NZ Transport Agency) was formed successfully removing driver and vehicle licensing from Police control. There is no one who will argue that this was a backward step and everyone recognizes the achievements of this change.
Why are Police so determined to hold onto firearms licensing? Is it to hold onto the cash cow and empire that will be firearms registration? Is it to hide mistakes and the broken system? Or has the minister lost control of the Police portfolio?
What shooters are faced with today
- A 35 page license document that is not fit for purpose
- Licensing delays that can be many months
- A cumbersome centralized bureaucracy
- A loss pf the personal knowledge of owners by local arms officers
What shooters can look forward to under the NOT so independent police firearms authority
- Restricting the number of firearms an A category licence holder can own to just 5 firearms
- Restrictions in ammunition
- Restrictions to the number of firearms per safe – with marketing data as a guideline
- Registration by July 2023
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