“The Government’s proposed changes to firearms licensing regulations are insulting to hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Kiwis,” says ACT’s Firearms Law Reform spokesperson Nicole McKee.
“An increase from $126.50 to $625.60 for a new five year firearms licence is proposed in the Arms regulations: Review of fees discussion document. This will deter potential applicants because they simply won’t be able to afford it. It is also proposed the firearms dealers licence fee is increased from $204 annually to $2,710 annually” she said.
Nicole McKee said Government seems to have forgotten who the criminals are. Under these proposals, licensed firearms owners who hold endorsements will be pre-emptively charged for a Police response if they’re burgled.
“Why should victims to pay for being burgled? When I asked new Police Minister Ginny Anderson about this in Parliament today, she said that the Government hasn’t made any decisions around implementation yet. On behalf of all licensed firearms owners across New Zealand.
Minister Needs to Think
Nicole Mckee said the minister needed to rethink. Keeping costs affordable provides an incentive for people to stay within the system, keep their firearms secured properly and be accountable. Being within the system means a person would receive essential firearms safety education, training, security is checked, and have been vetted as a fit and proper person.
It’s time New Zealand got back to really protecting our communities from firearm misuse and that means relieving New Zealand Police of their administrative duty that Labour and NZ First placed upon them. She said ACT will achieve this by re-introducing a new firearms law, starting from scratch, that puts our communities, not the pockets of Government at the heart of good firearms legislation.
“We will begin by removing the administration of arms control from New Zealand Police leaving them to deal with their core business of enforcement. This means the Police can focus on dealing with actual criminals, instead of treating licensed firearms owners like criminals,” she said.
As NZ becomes increasingly urbanized it seems people no longer have links to the land and Outdoor activities.
Now in my 70s and having grown up on a farm, firearm ownership has been a normal part of my life. I use guns for hunting, pest control, and putting down injured cattle. I have also competed in full bore target shooting when younger.
It seems there has been too much hysteria generated by politicians and police taking advantage of the Christchurch mosque killings – a one off event carried out by an Australian racist allowed to purchase weapons due to poor policing.
Give mainstream Kiwi firearm owners a break. Our record has been very good.
No so long ago every center had a range where gun owners could hone their skills safely under supervision of a range officer. Restrictions and costs has resulted in most ranges being closed. This creates a potential safety problem as gun owners have little choice but to sight their rifles in less safe and controlled conditions. Less time on the range means less familiarity with firearms and loss of proficiency. Accuracy is a skill that must be maintained. Firearm security is a given, but higher standards for gun safes comes at a cost. A bit of common sense is required as well as some trust that citizens still accept individual responsibility for their actions. For those not familiar with firearms and don’t want anything to do with them, that is your choice. We are not a threat to your safety. To us firearms are a tool albeit one that must be used safely. These proposed charges present as an opportunist tax that will not address the criminal use of firearms.
I presume that NZ’s politicians are intelligent beings, at least in terms of most of them having university degrees, but where is their common sense? Everywhere I look I see rampant stupidity in their agendas. As Tasmanian senator Jackie Lambie says of Australian politics, “We need more real people in Parliament”.
The increased cost of a firearms license will only increase the number of criminals in NZ as current firearms owners nearing the end of their hunting life will not apply for a new license and more firearms than ever will be on the black market. The costs involved in crimes with the increase of illegal firearms will far outweigh the increased cost of renewing a firearms license.
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Unfortunately Labour are a dead loss regarding firearms legislation. The sooner they are gone the better. Firearms owners are sick of poor rushed law changes & deserve better treatment. It is reasonable to assume they will back down significantly on the proposed relicensing cost increases but I won’t be holding my breath. We are very fortunate to have a quality representative like Nicole in parliament to speak for us.
What is Labour’s and the Greens agenda? The police I assume, operate under instructions from the Prime Minister, Police Minister in other words government.
I come from a Labour voting background, i.e. parents but the Lange-Rogernomics 4th Labour government elected in 1984 was a terrible undemocratic government.
But the current government i.e., Ardern/Hipkins is even worse. it has snubbed democracy and has scant regard for the people and the public interest.
Paul as you say “the sooner they are gone, the better.”
They seem ineffective in fronting up to criminals and gangs – invariably unlicensed firearm owners – and instead penalise lawful citizens like the firearm owning public.
Nicole McKee is like a breath of fresh air in Parliament.
It does not matter whether owning guns is good, bad or irrelevant.
All that matters is which groups of people have the most political influence over the politicians that are chosen and promoted to be elected by the influential members and funders of the major political parties.
Political activists who get public attention and can influence the votes of the people in the groups they say they represent also get leverage because they can influence who gets elected to have authority and power over the masses..
The people of the silent majority can complain all they like but will keep being ignored because they do not DO ANYTHING that could influence the outcome of elections.
Our political system is no longer democratic.
It is a fierce competition between opposing IDENTITY GROUPS who all want more money,. privileges, opportunities and advantages at the expense of others.
Politics is a game and like any other game the winners are those that participate, learn and play the game better than their opponents.
Spectators that watch, comment, criticise and pretend to be part of the game never win anything but they do pay.
Responsible owners of firearms are definitely going to be losing their “privileges” and it will be their own fault if they are too dumb to become politically active and influential.
There is one and only one party that is committed to representing us and demanding fair and reasonable legislation and that is ACT.
The people in ACT can only represent us effectively if we actively join, support and help them get elected in October.
That’s the bottom line. Join, support and help the ACT party or have your firearms confiscated by the people that hate guns and everyone that has any.