Changes to NZ gun laws are being used by police to harass law-abiding gun owners while criminal gangs go about their business of terrorising the public.
Dieuwe de Boer was targeted by a bevy of armed police who searched his house for illegal firearms. They didn’t find any because de Boer is a law-abiding gun owner who drew unwelcome police attention by making a submission during the law reform process last year. Police were looking for a gun that de Boer depicted in his submission.
Why was information given to a select committee handed over to the police? Why was de Boer subjected to police harassment? Why aren’t police targeting gangs with a widely publicised history of shooting at the public?
“A classic car club stopped to take in the sights of Taharoa were chased out of the remote Waikato town by local Maori threatening to shoot them and bash their cars if they didn’t leave.
But a Taharoa local said the club members were speeding, on private land near the site of the mine and refused to leave when asked.
A 69-year-old man said it wasn’t just surfers and boaties being threatened and shot at – but even people using public roads looking at the town’s tourist sign.
The Herald reported today that surfers and boaties were being threatened and some had been shot at when they were at Albatross Point off the Taharoa coastline, including a 14-year-old boy, his father and another friend last Thursday morning.”
NZ Herald
These incidents were reported in August 2018 and a complainant reported this week that “It’s still a no go zone. I know people that have been stood over coming into the wharf. Fishing boats still steer clear due to bullets hitting the water around them when they near the area.”
When three Te Awamutu surfers took jetskis from Kawhia Harbour out to the little-known surf break off Albatross Point, they caught the attention of locals.
The bloke, his 14-year-old son and an old mate heard two shots but initially dismissed it as hunters. The third shot landed in the water metres away from the teenager, and the traumatised trio later told police they saw two people on the bank shouting abuse.
The only access to Albatross Point is across private land or by boat. Surf access is apparently “by invite only”. One sign on a closed gate seems to sum up the sentiment: “No land, no entry”.
A week on, everyone has stopped talking. The surfing trio have gone to ground. They’re taking heat, a surfer who knows them says. It’s not clear whether that’s from Taharoa locals, or other surfers angry their secret break has been outed to the world.
“Surfers shot at while surfing (former) secret spot,” noted the Carve Magazine headline. Media had even provided a handy map, they added sarcastically. With nearby Raglan’s waves steeped in anger over overcrowding and surf turf wars, outing an isolated break is surfing sacrilege.
Stuff
In 2018 it appears that the public had completely lost faith in the police to protect them from armed gangs and the police’s application of new gun law does nothing to improve our safety or deal to gangs with illegal guns free to terrorise the public.
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