Media release
Council of Licensed Firearm Owners (COLFO)
The Council of Licensed Firearm Owners (COLFO) is concerned at the unsubstantiated and incomplete evidence that emerged in an interview on live television this week with President of the NZ Police Association, Chris Cahill.
Chris Cahill-firearm registry would have stopped dairy owner killing
Cahill’s interview on TVNZ Breakfast’s show last Monday included the misleading claim that a firearm registry would have stopped the killing of a dairy owner and the shooting of Police Constable Matthew Hunt.
There is no evidence to support this claim. For all their extraordinary expense, firearm registries do not reduce shootings. Neither is there a mechanism by which a registry could prevent a shooting, as at best they can only ever identify the source of a firearm after it has been misused and found.
Hugh Devereux-Mack
COLFO spokesperson Hugh Devereux-Mack says Cahill needs to moderate his bold advocacy into line with expectations of New Zealand citizens for trustworthiness of Police and media.
“The claims could generate unwarranted fear amongst those with little experience with firearms.
“The research alluded to in the interview was irrelevant, incomplete, and unreferenced.
“There was no mention of real-world experience such as the Canadian registry that was reduced to handling only restricted firearms after 13 failed years that cost $2b.”[1]
Devereux-Mack says the public deserves a higher quality discussion of the Registry, as it is budgeted to cost $711m in the first ten years.
“Police have admitted they can’t trace 82% of the firearms they seize, because 90% have had serial numbers removed. A registry mostly works on serial numbers.”
Cahill claimed the registry would make firearm owners improve security, so firearm thefts would consequently decrease.
“Security is already assessed by Police and deemed adequate to obtain a license. There’s no additional security requirement in a Registry.
“Cahill cited a mystery reduction in firearm theft in Australia following the introduction of a registry, although there is no Australia-wide registry. There is also no reduction in firearm theft: it increased over the decade to 2018, from just over 1,700 a year in 2007-08 to nearly 3,300 in 2016 -17.”[2]
/ENDS
[1] https://nationalpost.com/opinion/gary-mauser-why-the-long-gun-registry-doesnt-work-and-never-did
[2] https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/sr/sr24
For further information contact COLFO spokesperson: Hugh Devereux-Mack. 027 362 0853
Do police heads (e.g Police Association president Christopher Cahill) not have a conscience on the futility of targeting law abiding firearm owning public while street crime is on the up?
The police are public servants, salaries paid by the taxpaying public. Does Christopher Cahill’s views find agreement with the police who invariably do a good job?
All laws and efforts to reduce firearms crimes are doomed to failure. The buy back after the Christchurch massacre was supposed to decrease firearms crimes yet there are more crimes than ever reported on a daily basis in the media, creating a firearms registry will change nothing.
Spot on, take the U.K. ? They must have the most strict Gun Laws in the World ! ( Case in point the VERY SAD news about Mr Ratana the Maori Police Officer in Shot London ) You’d almost get’ locked up ‘ for owning a packet of Air Gun Slugs ! make no mistake about it . /// Yet the Criminals STILL obtain a whole range of Firearms , mostly tied up with the illegal DRUG Trade ? this is where we should move in N.Z. > A HUGE REWARD FOR INFO ON INCOMING DRUG SHIPMENTS ( that also may contain Firearms ) > Funded by LOTTO ? They would be dobbing each other in left right Centre !! Reckon this would give our Kiwi POLICE a DECENT CHANCE , as it would PROTECT them, and the General Public from facing Armed Drugged up Crims . Thanks .
Let’s be sure,
The gov. end game , is to disarm the law abiding recreational sport shooter citizens .This can be achieved by raising the cost of compliance, beyond the budget of the general community.
Cahill, noted here is just about a criminal like collaborator.
In Jan. 2019 I had 21 deer shot on my farm behind wire netting deer fence.
With the help of my manager & farmers next door, the criminals were caught red handed,cops called, all ID ‘s taken. firearms lice noted, etc. Very little interest was actioned, so I placed the matter before Chris Cahill as a high ranking officer in the Force.
He couldn’t even see fit to moving to cancel the criminal’s firearm licenses, regardless of my insistence.
Police have an unusual status. They are not “Public Servants”.
This is necessary so that they do not have to worry about arresting their “bosses”
They come directly under the Governor General as representative of the King/Queen.