The firearm register is here and we must deal with it, at least until after the election when, hopefully, a change of government occurs. Then as Nicole McKee and the ACT Party have promised—they will dump it!
The police have tried to make them out as being irresponsible, but this is a load of codswallop because ACT, like any honest firearm holder, understands what little benefit a register will give. Weigh this negligible return against the cost in both tax dollars and work hours—to say nothing of the risks to those who have their firearms listed, where it can be leaked or hacked. Sure, the police have said they have done everything to make it safe, but their record of dropping the ball is astonishing.
So how well will it work? Not well at all. Having registered cars sure as hell hasn’t stopped cars being stolen or used in ram-raids. In my opinion, it’s all about control and knowing what firearms the honest possess… when they decide to ban the next lot of firearms.
What are the chances the register is going to be kept up to date and accurate? Not much. My pistols have been on a register for years and come inspection time it is never right, and we have under 5000 pistol endorsements in New Zealand. Can you really see them being able to handle it when 240,000 people attempt to list all their firearms? I imagine they will try and blame the licence holders if it doesn’t work or is not accurate.
The police say it’s needed because the gangs get most of their guns from licence holders. However, when COLFO put in an OIA (Official Information Act request), the numbers didn’t prove that at all. What it did highlight, was that the police do not know where the bulk of the firearms come from!
Every firearm imported legally here must have a permit and is signed off on arrival. So, when the police say they have no idea how many firearms are here, that is on them because they should know, based on past years’ records. Unless of course, guns have come in over the border and the gangs maybe… didn’t tell them? Like the drugs we don’t grow or manufacture— there is no shortage on the streets.
We once had a full register, but it was dropped at the request of police in the 1980s. Their reasoning then was it was the wrong way to go and a waste of resources, as well as inaccurate. Like the register we’ve had for restricted guns is always out.
This new one is a complete waste of time. Think what good all that money could do in the hospitals or towards real police work to stop crime getting worse every day. Like the ‘Buy Back Scheme’ that was in the interest of “Public Safety”, which actually saw a massive increase in gang related shootings, this appears to be another rushed firearm law change aimed at making the bureaucrats look good—but is it in the interest of public safety? I think not!
