“Firearms Prohibition Orders were one of the few laws Labour has enacted that is meant to reduce crime, but it hasn’t made New Zealand any safer because they don’t bother using it,” says ACT’s Justice spokesperson Nicole McKee.
“Newstalk ZB report that only two Firearms Prohibition Orders have been issued since the law was introduced last November.
“Then Police Minister Chris Hipkins said at the time “Firearms prohibition orders will help to further reduce firearms violence in our communities by prohibiting high risk offenders from accessing, being around or using firearms or ammunition.”
“The Firearms Prohibition Orders Legislation Act, which ACT supports, allows a judge to ban a person from having a firearm for 10 years when they are sentenced for a serious crime. Now it’s only been used twice in six months. Either there have only been two bad criminals who shouldn’t have firearms sentenced since November, or something is very wrong with this law.
“The Government needs to explain why this is. How many people have been convicted for a crime that could carry a Firearm Prohibition Order? How many times have the Police sought one? How many times have the Courts refused to issue an FPO? Without the answers to such questions, we don’t know why the law is not working, and people remain endangered.
“When this law was introduced last year New Zealand was facing a 47 per cent increase in gun crime. This was meant to fix this, everyone can see they’ve failed.
Labour Mix-up
“This is symptomatic of Labour’s approach to crime. Labour’s approach to crime has been to get criminals and victims mixed up. They go after law-abiding firearms owners while making excuses for violent criminals so they can lower the imprisonment rate.
“The consequences of these priorities are playing out in New Zealand communities. Dairy owners are scared at what might happen every day, families are afraid to leave their homes, and small business owners never know what might happen.
“Police report that in the last year there have been six and half thousand more innocent people attacked, robbed and otherwise terrorised with impunity. There needs to be real change.
ACT Will
“No other party has released more policy to tackle crime than ACT. We would:
- Invest in more prison beds and youth justice facilities
- Restrict the use of electronic bail, while dropping the target for lower prison numbers
- Introduce Gang Injunction Orders
- Implement ankle bracelets for youth offenders
- Turn Inland Revenue on the gangs
- Introduce tools to crack down on gangs and illegal firearm use
- Electronically monitor spending for gang members on welfare
- Infringement notices for youth offenders, leading to instant, practical penalties instead of justice delayed
- Introduce Three Strikes for burglary, recognising it is a recidivist crime
- Introduce financial reparations made by the Crown, so victims don’t have to watch their attacker putting 65 cents a week in their account for 10 years
- Re-introduce Three Strikes
- Increasing police in line with the population
- Introduce a policy of no rehab, no parole
- Hold an Independent Review of the IPCA
- Make changes to the Arms Act.
“ACT will keep proposing positive solutions to ensure all New Zealanders feel safe and that we have real change.”
No doubt where my vote is going for party vote! We urgently need MPs like Nicole McKee.
We certainly don’t want the ‘social engineers’ in Labour and Greens!
What good would these prohibition orders do?
Anyone that does not have a current firearms license is already prohibited from owning and using firearms.
Whether they have commited crimes or not makes no difference.
Many people without firearms licenses own and use firearms.
There is no way of knowing who these people are, how many of them there are, what sorts of firearms they own or where they “securely store” their firearms.
The only people who can be identified as firearms owners are the ones who have complied with the licensing system.
The people that illegally own firearms are not identified unless they commit a criminal offence involving a firearm.
Laws are necessary and useful but they do not prevent people from disobeying them or detect people who are disobeying them unless they draw attention to themselves.
Why does believe that the new arms regulations and register will have any effect on the unlicensed people that illegally own firearms?
The only people that will be effected are the responsible ones who comply, pay the prohibitive licensing fees and become “targets” for criminals and anti-gun politicians and bureaucrats who want to take their personal property from them.
Having told them who we are, where we live and what we have, do not be surprised when they come to take it.
The alternative to complying is to join the other people that have firearms but cannot be identified because they do not have licenses.
We do not know how many such people there are and neither do the police because most are probably not doing anything that attaracts police attention to them.
I am not suggesting that anyone should, but am concerned that many people will, not register their firearms or renew their firearms licences.
Such people (who would prefer to comply with a fair and reasonable system) will reluctantly choose non-compliance to the confiscation of their property they see coming.
Firearms are quite easy to “securely store” in places where no-one is likely to find them. They do not have to be stored in one’s home.
Firearms are easy to transport to and be used in rural locations without anyone else seeing them.
The probability that an unlicensed person, who does not threaten or harm anyone else, will be identified and punished is relatively low.
The probability that the people who comply with this new system of licensing and registration might have undesired and unpleasant interactions with police for minor infringements of the rules is significant.
The first thing a criminal does is grind off the serial number, making the register useless.
Or is there another motive behind the register?
Cant see it changing anything other than make a great shopping list for crims when the data is breached, much like the online buy back scheme data leak.
NZ is half arsed when it comes securely holding personal info. Muppets.
The changes that are being made to the Arms Act are making it too expensive and too difficult for many people who would like to own firearms to do so legally. This is part of Agenda 21 / Agenda 2030 which is being bankrolled world wide by the super rich members of the One World Government / New World Order through the United Nations. They do not want us to own firearms. New Zealanders need only look to the USA where there is less violent crime in States which allow “open carry” and ” concealed carry” of firearms. New Zealand criminals would think twice about committing a crime if they knew their victims might have quick access to a firearm.
If a few of the responsible churchgoers in the Christchurch Mosque had concealed handguns there would very likely have been fewer people killed by gunman Brenton Tarrant. One dairy owner defending his property legally with a firearm would send shockwaves through the criminal community. People have a right to defend themselves, it should not a privilege handed out by Government. Government has hypocritical ideas about basic human rights and it’s time for responsible people to say enough is enough to the constant passing of new and revised legislation which constantly restrict our human / birth rights.
The people taking jobs in the new money wasting registration scheme are just another species of Covid Karen, they would sign up in a heartbeat to be concentration camp guards you can bet your freedom on it.