Press release COLFO
NZ Police have inadvertently made public the full details of the collector, and the location, of a H&K MP5, described by many as the greatest machine gun ever made.
The material was accidentally included in information given to a firearm owner who had made a privacy act request for information held by Police on himself. As part of its response, Police supplied the details of another collector who holds an H&K MP5. The breach is therefore fortunately contained because it was given to a fit and proper licensed firearm owner.
The Council of Licensed Firearm Owners is outraged by the error, pointing at multiple promises from Government and Police, and personal guarantees from Ministers, that private firearm information was safe and would never be released. Police had previously said the firearm register would have the same high-level security protocols as Police’s National Intelligence Application.
And, following a privacy breach where 147 Auckland firearm owners had their details leaked by Police in an email bungle, Police had promised to strengthen its systems to prevent a repeat.
COLFO Spokesperson Hugh Devereux-Mack says changes in laws over the past few years mean Police are collecting more information than ever before, making the impact of any breach far more dangerous than in the past.
“People who advocated for a register said this would not happen – but it has,” he said. “All the information being collected multiplies the opportunity for mishandling data, and for the impact of a mistake to have serious and dangerous consequences.”
“The only thing that keeps preventing these disasters the Police initiate is the vigilance and responsibility of licensed firearm owners.”
Hugh Devereux-Mack said the details of the machine gun also revealed the danger posed within Police themselves, given 333 were investigated and 89 of them were convicted for criminal activity while in the job since 2021.
“If this sort of information is available to Police staff who are incompetently handling privacy information requests, then it’s also available to staff with criminal intent.”
“We can’t escape the conclusion that on the matter of firearm safety, the Police present a greater danger to the public than properly licensed firearm owners,” says Hugh Devereux-Mack.
Footnote:- For further information contact COLFO Spokesperson: Hugh Devereux-Mack. 027 362 0853
Hugh Devereaux-Mack -police more dangerous than
properly licensed firearm owners?
This has become embarrassing, more befitting the Keystone Cops.
I and to apologise to NZ firearm owners.still haven’t heard the police admit as to how and why Mosque massacrer Tarrant was given a firearm licence, despite irregularities in his application.
I’ve since heard he bought 3,000 rounds of ammunition. Is it true, the retailer reported it to the police who did nothing to avert the would-be killer?
The police have collected more information on licenced, law abiding gun owners than ever before and yet the rate of firearms incidents by unlicenced criminals just keeps growing and growing.
I do not trust the police with ANY information to do with my firearms. A big part of my firearms security is not telling people that I am a gun owner and that is how it should be.
We ought to all support Minister McKee’s proposal for fair and reasonable firearms legislation and a system of licensing individuals to own and use firearms unless there is evidential proof that they are NOT FIT AND PROPER.
Licensed owners of firearms are required to keep these items “securely stored” so that other people cannot have access to them.
As I told the nice man that assessed me to renew my license.
“My firearms are securely stored where others cannot access them because I do not tell anyone else which ones I have or where they are hidden”.
When other people know what firearms we have and that they are stored in gun safes in our homes, this information is no longer private and confidential.
It becomes likely that this information will be disclosed to people that might like to steal certain types of firearms and other property from their owners.
The “leakage” if this personal, private and confidential information CANNOT BE PREVENTED!
Storing detailed personal information about what people own and where they stored it in computers makes it available to the people that can access the systems and others that can “hack” them.
Our firearms and other property are no longer “securely stored”,
Other people can and will likely find out what we have and where we keep it because this information cannot be prevented from being intentionally or accidentally shared.
If, as I prefer, the information about what I own and where I keep it is stored in my own brain it is secure and can only be accessed when I want to.
I would like to believe that the laws and police prevent criminals for invading our homes and stealing our stuff but they DO NOT.
Criminals refuse to obey the laws and police.
I would like to believe that the police would be able (or willing) to recover property that was stolen from me and return it but I know that does not happen any more.
If a firearm was lost or stolen, I would like to believe that I could provide the police with the necessary identifying information and hope they might recover and return it to me. That is most unlikely.
It is more likely that I would be punished for being a victim of a crime.
I would like to believe that giving government bureaucrats the personal information about what we own and where we keep it would prevent criminals from having and misusing firearms but IT WILL NOT.
People that are not allowed to have firearms will never comply.
The creation of a firearms register could help to identify items that were illegally transferred from one person to another but it will not because identifying serial numbers and other makings are too easy to remove or alter.
What we own and where we keep it is OUR OWN BUSINESS.
This register prevents us from securely storing our personal property so that others are not aware of what we have or where we hide it.
I would agree with this firearms register if it would provide benefits in return for the costs of establishing and administering it but I do not see any benefits for licensed firearms owners or the public in general.
In fact, people that want to retain the right to privacy and confidentiality will probably be “criminalized”.
What I see is the violation of our individual human rights to own, protect and securely store our personal property so that it cannot be taken from us unless we misuse it to harm other people or their property.
I would prefer to securely store my personal and confidential information, about what I own and where I keep it, in my own brain instead of some government computers that can and will be accessed by people I do not know or trust without my permission.
The only beneficiaries of this firearms register are the government bureaucrats that think they need to know everything about us and what we own, think, say and do so that they can treat us as children that need to be controlled “for our own good”.
An inevitable consequence of forcing people to register their personal property will be rejection of this violation of our natural property rights and more firearms being illegally owned by people that would prefer to be law abiding.
I am not in favour of or promoting this non-compliance.
This has already been a consequence of the confiscation (not a buy back) of semi-automatic centrefire rifles.
An analysis of the import and sales data would show that very large numbers of these now illegal items were NOT HANDED IN and will definitely not be registered.
Who still has them (not me) and where they are “securely stored” is and will never be known.
The danger of forcing people to register their firearms and other personal property is that it will encourage more non-compliance and illegal ownership by individuals that regard this registration as a prelude to confiscation.
Application for a license is evidence that a person is a responsible and law abiding citizen that does not wish or intend to harm other people. Tarrant was an exception who could have been prevented from having a license if the existing system had been properly administered. Blaming other people for his horrible crime was never just or rational.
People that wish to comply with the system should not be assumed to be “guilty” and have to prove their innocence in the absence of evidence that they are likely to endanger other citizens or their property, as the current system requires.
The reality, that does not get mentioned, is that responsible owners and users prioritize safety first because they do not want to harm or be harmed by anyone.
The anti-gun activists make a lot of noise and the majority of responsible LFOs say nothing to oppose it.
It’s time to speak up.
Cam Slater has written an account of this which is worth a couple of minutes of your time:
https://goodoil.news/and-they-said-the-gun-register-would-be-safe/?