There are many questions to be answered such as why the shooter wasn’t on any radar, how he was able to get an arms licence and buy the weapons he did and how, when people expressed concerns to the police, they were ignored.
I’m heartened there will be a Royal Commission to answer all those questions and I trust Andrew Little to ensure an honest and thorough job is done.
That said, I’ve found all the ill-informed hysteria over rifles and shotguns so far off the mark it isn’t funny.
I find little in common with either side of the argument.
For a start, I see no reason for any military style semi-automatic in NZ. They are hopeless in the bush and should never have been allowed in the country.
It is the same with exploding ammunition. Again, it has no practical use for hunting and why it is allowed is beyond me.
I’m also aware that both politicians and police have been informed over the years about the importation of large magazines. Why didn’t they do anything?
For the record, if you change the magazine you change the balance of the rifle. No serious hunter would entertain that.
So, military style automatics, exploding ammunition and large magazines have all been allowed by politicians.
Can I add that the police have been disingenuous in their demonstration of semi-autos in the media, giving the impression the military style rifle they were demonstrating was the norm for semi-automatics. It isn’t and it is time to be honest. In addition, the semi-automatics I saw them with are illegal now.
Further, I remember around 20 years ago when the Wellington police removed arms information from their computer to free up space for traffic offences.
Thirty years ago a few mates and I established a forest. It has since been milled.
The block was infested with hares, possums, goats and the occasional pig. All had the ability to prevent the establishment.
I bought a semi-automatic, shot more than 80 goats and several hundred hares and possums. Without it we couldn’t have established the trees.
The rifle is long gone but without it the forest wouldn’t have been established.
So now all semis will be banned, except for Remmingtons, costing over $2000, that have a sprung magazine rather than one you insert. Both hold the same amount of shells.
My simple answer is to have the legal magazine permanently attached to the rifle by a licensed armourer, to the satisfaction of the authorities. It would cost peanuts compared with buying them and guarantee most existing semi-automatics don’t end up on the black market.
That neither politicians nor officials have a clue what they’re talking about is evidenced by the statement that semi-auto 22s and shotguns can still be used to control pests. That might be true for a bunny on a lawn in Canterbury but elsewhere the only possible use for a .22 against a goat, pig or deer would be to throw it.
About 30 years ago the government and police decided on a whole of life licence, at great expense. Most of my friends and colleagues bought one. Then, in 1990, came Aramoana and the lifetime licence changed to one of 10 years.
Many of my contemporaries felt they’d been sold a pup and refused. Almost 30 years later they still have their rifles and shotguns and no-one’s any wiser.
When I first had a rifle you had a certificate for the individual rifle. It was a government, not hunters, that changed the rules.
We now have a gung-ho Police Minister in Stuart Nash changing them again. The only serious question he seems to ask when his officials and the police tell him to jump is to ask how high.
So, as the result of previous government policies, no-one knows who owns a semi-automatic or the type of rifle it is.
There is considerable resentment among hunters about the bulldozed nature of the legislation and the Government needs their goodwill if the new law is to be successful.
Winston Peter’s threat about those keeping semi-automatics being punished with the full rigour of the law is empty. Police don’t have the resources and have other priorities.
For those reasons alone the proposed law won’t work. The status quo will continue.
All that’s realistically been achieved is that politicians, not knowing a rifle from a trifle, can wash their clean linen in public.
Finally, rushed legislation is bad legislation compounded by the fact the Government admitted MPs won’t have time to read all the submissions and will rely on officials.
That’s not democracy as I understand it. It’s sound and fury signifying nothing.
