Opinion by Lew Hore
The news about a rise in firearm crimes as reported in the “Otago Daily Times” 12 April, 2023 suggests that undemocratically rushed government measures following the tragic Mosque shooting by the Australian terrorist Brenton Tarrant in March 15, 2019, have failed miserably.
Rushed law is inevitably bad law.
And it also suggests that current police proposals to make a ludicrous rise in firearm licence fees will achieve nothing and almost certainly be counter productive.
When will the Minister of Police, the Prime Minister and the police themselves realise that the old adage, “Guns don’t kill people that people kill people” is so true.
The point is society has become mentally sick and is getting sicker.
Who is to blame?
The answer?
Politicians who seem to thrive on divide and conquer tactics, pitting one group of society against another, time and time again and not forgetting the often sick wokeist theories that leave many people either confused, angry, disenfranchised or other negative feeling.
Don’t blame law-abiding firearm owners who just want to go claybird shooting, pit their skills on a rifle range or go hunt a deer for the deep freeze.
The target for Prime Minister Hipkins is gangs and criminals – not law abiding citizens.
Footnote: Lewis Hore has spent a law-abiding lifetime with firearms, enjoys hunting and the outdoors.
A good opinion piece, sharp, concise and to the point. The government’s handling of the aftermath of the 2019 mosque shooting has been persecution of the firearm owning public. There has to be a motive – an agenda – behind the police and government’s continuing harassment of law behaving citizens and their turning of “a blind eye” to rising crime characterised by increased shootings, ram raids etc.,
Couldn’t agree more, Lew.
Enough is enough.
There are 238,000 Firearms Licence Holders remaining in New Zealand (10,000 have already thrown in the towel).
That is ABSOLUTELY MORE THAN ENOUGH to swing the vote in the upcoming Election .. and make sure we see the back of this god-forsaken bunch of clowns that have the cheek to call themselves our government.
International research tells us a 3% swing is often enough to change governments.
We’re just shy of 10% of voters.
If you’ve got a Firearms Licence .. talk to your mates .. everyone you know who’s got a Firearms Licence.
Urge them to vote ACT .. it’s the last chance we’ve got.
It’s a coalition bottom-line for ACT .. to bring in the new Firearms Act that Nicole McKee has been drafting.
If this does not happen . In the next term of government .. then the Firearms Registry Will be a reality .. as will the MASSIVE Licence Renewal and other Fees increases that are currently being proposed.
If you have a Firearms Licence . . and you want to keep it .. THEN YOU MUST VOTE ACT IN 2023.
It .. is .. really .. that .. simple.
Great article.
As this government piles stupidity on stupidity in education, health, the environment, firearms control etc. etc., one can only ask, what are they trying to do to a country which has never seen such ill-thought-out agendas perpetrated by a bunch of politicians apparently devoid of any sort of ethical basis for their policies.
We would all prefer to live in a safe, secure and sane society where violence and crime are not a concern.
Fortunately. most people willingly agree to respect the lives and property of others for their mutual benefit.
A minoprity of people do not agree to respect others and the laws against assault, battery, robbery, fraud, rape murder and other crimes and this minority seems to be increasing.
What shall we do about it?
Some people suggest that we should be more lenient and understanding of the people who commit crimes. This does apply to people that commit offences once and subsequently learn to behave more responsibly and decently.
The more serious problem is the people that repeatedly and habitually ignore the laws because the consequences are acceptable to them.
Legislation that is imposed on all people because of the behaviour of a minority of the people is not fair, resonable or effective because it assumes that everyone is guilty of criminal intentions or behaviour in the abscence of any evidence that they are.
Prohibiting the use of personal property because it could be misused to harm other people is also ineffective because criminals will not comply and the people that are not a threat to others are unfairly discriminated against and criminalized if they resist being unfairly judged and discriminated against.
The only rational solution is to identify and devise effective ways of identifying the minority of people who are motivated to commit crimes against others and discourage them from accepting their own antisocial attitudes and behaviour.
If someone offends once SILLY THEM and perhaps they will learn from the consequences.
If they continue to offend SILLY US for foolishly believing they will change.
There is much to be said for ACT’s 3 STRIKES policy for dealing with repeat offenders and also harsher penalities for violent crimes that are realistically related to the pain and sufferring of the victims.
Increasing rates of crimes against other people and their property are also an indication of social dysfunction that has causes that can be identified and dealt with if there is a will to do so.
People are deterred from commiting crimes when they perceive that they have more to lose than gain from such behaviour and have been raised and educated to be able to evaluate the potential consequences of commiting crimes.
Unfortunately, our reliance on “the government” to regulate everything does not motivate people to become responsible and disciplined enough to have more to lose than they hope to gain from offending against other people so they become active members of the CRIMINAL COMMUNITY.
Our justice sysem, like our health and educations systems, is failing when the problems they were designed to solve and the public costs of operating them keep increasing.
We ought to stop throwing more good money after bad and seriously consider what Value the thousands of government employees are providing us with for the Money we give and pay them.
Once again ACT seems to be the only political party that proposes a proper assesment of the costs and benefits of our government “enterprises” and making them more accountable for providing real Value for our hard earned Money.
These government enterprises are not real businesses that earn income by providing desired goods or services to willing buyers.
They are monopolies that can force citizens to pay even when they are not willing or receiving proper value in return.
This is more like legalized extortion than proper business.
Responsible citizens should realize that what is called “government money” is really what they have earned or will earn by being productive workers and that a MILLION or a Billion Dollars is a lot of money wasted when the people who have earned it receive little in return.
Reducing the size, authority and cost of government would be very beneficial for the ordinary wage and salary earners who are struggling to make ends meet due to economic mismanagement caused by politicians and government buraucrats.
Perhaps we should all consider whether we want more or less value in return for what we are forced to pay when we hire new people to represent us this October?
The fourth estate either carefully neglects, or chooses not to mention, when reporting on firearm-armed incidents of violence, that such incidents are always (a) illicit, (b) involve illicitly possessed firearms, and (c) almost never involve licensed firearm owners.
Accordingly, licensed firearm owners become ‘tarred with the brush’ of illicit firearm possession, misuse and violence.
Although violence is part of the symbiosis between the fourth estate and its derived income, the interests of licensed firearm owners are always harmed by the automatic lumping of all firearm owners with any and all violent offending with firearms.
This lack of professionalism on the part of the fourth estate results from sloppy investigation, failures to incorporate relevant facts in a story, and an unwillingness to recognise alternative positions.
The day one of the many guns I sell in my shop hops off the rack and attacks someone all on its own will be the first and only day I ever agree with the government. Until then its business as usual and I live with the hope every single firearm licence holder in NZ bands together as one and says NO!
LAW ABIDING FIREARM OWNERS NEED TO BE FULLY AWARE OF U.N. AGENDA 2030, WHICH INCLUDES THE MISSION OF DISARMING LAW ABIDING FIREARM OWNERS WORLDWIDE!!!! & THAT’S WHAT THE LABOUR /MARXISTS HAVE BEEN QUIETLY DOING FOR THE PAST NUMBER OF YEARS & LIKE THE LAW ABIDING KIWI’S THAT WE ARE, WE HAVE COMPLIED!!! ( SOFTLY SOFTLY CATCHEE MONKEY,EH??)
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, I’VE HAD A GUTS FULL & I’M GIVING MY PARTY VOTE TO THE ACT PARTY ( NICOLE MCKEE FOR MINISTER OF POLICE!!) & MY
CANDIDATE VOTE TO MY LOCAL NATIONAL M.P.
SUGGEST ( NICELY) THAT EVERYONE DOES THE SAME & INVITES FAMILY & FRIENDS TO DO LIKEWISE.
Honest Dave ( Rotorua )
A very good point that Lew Hore made was the mental state of people now. It’s well acknowledged governments are prone to use the “fear” weapon (i.e. Chicken Licken’s The Sky is Falling in) . H L Mencken, social commentator in early 20th century said “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”
Society has become mentally ill and the strong suspicion is governments are responsible.
You might even say it is “mental abuse.” The Labour/Greens dictatorship has been very adept at it.