According to a Radio NZ report and published in the “Otago Daily Times” breaches by police of people’s private information have almost doubled in number- close to 500. A large number of the breaches involved the new firearms registry the police’s annual review said. It counted 492 breaches of all types in the 12 months to July 2024, up from 281 the year before and just over 90, five years ago. Nineteen were serious enough to be notified to the Privacy Commissioner.
“Most breaches involved inadvertent, inappropriate or careless disclosure of personal information,” the review said. Examples were staff sending e-mails to the wrong person or hard copy information being “misplaced or stolen.”
Factors behind the big rise included mandatory training so staff were more aware they had to report breaches as well as better ways or technology for making reports.
Most breaches did not need the GCSB spy agency or National Cyber Security Centre to be called in, the review said.
COLFO Comments
However COLFO spokesman Hugh Devereux-Mack said the fact that privacy of personal data, and especially firearms licensing data, continues to be a problem for police to secure is a contributing factor as to why police have lost the trust and confidence of the licensed firearm owning community.
“The firearms registry provides a valuable asset to criminals and when it falls into the wrong hands either through intentional misuse, or accidental mismanagement, there will be no way to undo the harm caused to law abiding people who legally own firearms,” he said.
With police recently proving they are able to catch criminal straw purchases without the use of the register, New Zealand must ask what is a better use of millions of tax dollars, more officers on the street catching criminals and preventing crime or an administrative register of law abiding people that does not keep our streets safe.
Well the Police were open about shortcomings in their annual review. Pat on the back for them.
But why do they persist with the firearms registry idea? Canada spent billions before realising it was a failure and canned it. Minister Mark Mitchell needs to step in and tell the police to focus on crime.
The COLFO spokesman HDM is right the police don’t need the firearms register to catch criminals as this report from a couple of days ago illustrates:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360518115/auckland-builder-jailed-supplying-firearms-black-market
The firearms register is a feel good make work scheme that serves no good purpose and will cost the hard pressed taxpayers of this country a fortune we should be spending elsewhere, just as the Canadians.
No surprises there.
Natural Law (superior to human laws) gives every individual the inalienable rights and responsibilities to protect their own lives, freedoms, personal property and bodies as long as they agree to respect the same rights of others.
Protecting our personal property requires safely storing it so that it cannot be accessed and taken from us without our agreement.
Allowing other people to have access to the information about what we own and where we securely store it violates our privacy and ability to protect our property.
Unfortunately, the people that call themselves the state always want to take more of our privacy and security from us in return for promising to protect and provide for them as if we were their children.
They might “mean well” but deny the reality that they are incapable of doing what they promise.
When government politicians and bureaucrats say that our private information is secure under their control the CONTROL is real but the security is not.
People that we neither know nor trust will have access to this information and the ability to misuse it to harm us.
We will have no way of knowing who gets the information or how they intend to use it.
The current firearms rules say we should keep our property securely stored.
The imposition of this register says we are NOT ALLOWED TO keep firearms securely stored so that they cannot be accessed and taken by people we do not trust.
Our private information in government databases is never secure.
“Authorized” government employees have access to it without our consent and so do unauthorized people who are a threat to our security and safety.
The “authorities” try to justify this violation of our natural rights by saying it is “for the common good” but they have no way of understanding what is “for the common good” and not just GOOD FOR THEMSELVES.
What is definitely not for the common good is violation of Natural Law and our Natural rights by OMNIPOTENT MORAL BUSYBODIES who suffer from the delusion that they are our parents.
This register initiative will be a dismal and very costly failure because the people likely to misuse firearms will never comply and neither will others that choose protection of their privacy, property and natural rights over obedience to politicians, bureaucrats and government employees that we employ and pay to work for us.
Natural Law, Natural Rights and the presumption of innocence in the absence of evidential proof of guilt are the foundation of Democracy and Western Civilization.
Brave people of the past, fought, bled suffered and died so that we could have the rights that some people are intent on taking from us and will take if we allow them to.
There are many lies but 3 main ones.
1. I am going to pay you tomorrow.
2. I will still respect you in the morning.
And the greatest of them all is.
I AM FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND I AM HERE TO HELP YOU.
No thanks, the price of your help is too high and we can take care of ourselves if you let us.