Media Release
21 November 2024
Police with “pistols on the hip” will result in the death of innocent people
The Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) has welcomed the wariness of the new Police Commissioner toward the enthusiasm of the Police Association for carrying “pistols on the hip”.
COLFO Spokesperson Hugh Devereux-Mack says the trade-off for Police carrying pistols on the hip is the lives of everyday citizens.
“It’s a sad reality that in every country where Police wear pistols: it results in more dead civilians.
“We see internationally it’s not just criminals who get shot by Police; it’s innocents, bystanders, and people in domestic or everyday disputes.”
Hugh Devereux-Mack says the risk of ordinary citizens being shot by criminals with firearms is too small to justify introducing permanently armed Police. New Zealand currently has about 2.5 gun-related deaths per million people. The United States has about 106 deaths per million people.
“The risk of an innocent citizen being injured or dying in New Zealand from criminal activity would have to be many times higher before it is greater than the risk of being wrongfully shot by Police.”
Reasons
Hugh Devereux-Mack explains that permanently armed Police injure or kill people because;
- Internationally we see Police increasingly draw firearms in non-firearm or non-violent incidents, increasing the chances of them shooting frightened or emotional citizens.
- Armed Police in New Zealand have already scared innocent civilians and allegedly pointed firearms at children
- Some Police have medical challenges such as PTSD and related symptoms which would disqualify them from holding a firearm licence if they were a civilian.
Hugh Devereux-Mack said the arming of each Police officer safely would be almost impossible because of the high standard necessary for peacetime use of weapons in, and on the public.
“Standards for the use of firearms against citizens require an order of capability beyond most people, including Police. It is interesting that Police must have a driver’s license to drive their vehicle, but are not required to qualify for a firearms license to carry a gun which is a unique double standard.”
“Not every Police officer could manage the handling requirements, nor would they get the range time and anti-bias training to be effective under the extreme pressure of deploying weapons in the field. None of this adds up to safer streets for law-abiding Kiwis”
“Introducing everyday carry for police will start an arms race that encourages criminals to carry illegal firearms to meet police with equal force. That escalation of violence undermines ‘community policing’ and will cost lives.”
More Incidents
Hugh Devereux-Mack said it was ironic that the Police Association claimed Police now need to wear pistols because they are attending more firearm incidents. After all, the Association had claimed New Zealanders would be safer from gun crime due to policy changes since the Christchurch mosque shootings.
“They said New Zealanders would be safer with the introduction of the firearm registry and additional restrictions on licensed owners, but they now admit firearm incidents have increased proving once again they were wrong. The Association has no credibility on firearm policy.”[1]
COLFO notes that in the latest media coverage, the Police Association claims 68% of its members want to wear firearms. This is a reduction from the 73% in their 2021 survey result.
Note:– For further information contact COLFO Spokesperson: Hugh Devereux-Mack. 027 362 0853
Police Association have no credibility. What are they? Akin to a Trade Union?
No our police should NOT be routinely armed. The public are absolutely forbidden to use a legally owned firearm to protect their lives or property before the police show up, if they even bother to attend. The police already have quick access to all the firepower they can ever possibly need. It fills me with contempt to see them strutting around with military style semi automatic rifles slung round their necks AFTER an incident when the danger is long past.
Hard to trust the police now after what happened re the Aussie terrorist not being vetted and the multiple times officers have been convicted for illegally accessing their intel database. Word is that the Gun Registry has also been illegally accessed multiple times by insiders and that as a result, there has been an up tick in houses being targeted by burglars seeking the firearms registered there. Once again the govt proves that can’t run a bath let alone a country.
Criminals will get guns illegally no matter how hard it is for lawful shooters to own them.
I sympathize with out frontline police men and women.
Their work is always potentially dangerous and often under appreciated.
They are constantly exposed to the “dark side” of human nature and behavior.
Merging the traffic and “real” police had the unfortunate consequence of reducing public respect and trust in the police. They seem more motivated to generate revenue from minor driving errors than serving and protecting us from violence and theft of our property.
Robberies and violent crimes often go unpunished while unintended driving “offences” get more resources and attention.
No wonder that the response to police is so often anxiety instead of confidence.
Social and economic deterioration encourages more people to commit crimes and the increase in mental illness also makes policing more dangerous.
While we all know that the police will not be there to protect us when we need them, they ought to have the means to protect themselves even though that is denied to the rest of us by the current firearms regulations.
However, openly carrying and relying on handguns might not be the best defense.
Careful consideration needs to be given to the known and other possible dangers.
Criminals might be encouraged to be armed as well in order to “fight back”.
Handguns can be taken from police and used against them.
Accuracy is very difficult to learn and consistently achieve without proper training and regular practice.
Innocent bystanders are at risk of being shot my mistake.
The obvious arming and armoring of our police tends to produce more intimidation and fear of them by law abiding citizens who feel more threatened.
The cumulative psychological trauma of constant exposure to violent and other criminal behavior may result in excessive use of force and shooting people that could be dealt with in less violent ways.
The reasons that we “ordinary citizens” should not be carrying handguns for self protection also apply to police officers because they are also just ordinary human beings in spite of their training and responsibility to enforce the laws.
Being armed can give people a false sense of security that endangers more than protects them.
Many people become anxious and irrational when confronted by police. Encouraging and helping them to calm down might be a better strategy than threatening to shoot them.
In spite of the increasing fear generated by media reports of crime and gangs, we are still lucky because the vast majority of us do not wish to harm or be harmed by one another.
This proposal for our police to “openly carry” to protect themselves also raises a serious question.
If New Zealand is now such a dangerous place why shouldn’t we do the same to protect ourselves as well because “pistol packing police” are not going to be around to do it for us.
I grew up being taught to regard the police as my friends and would still like to. Unfortunately that has become more difficult to believe and seeing more and more of them heavily armed and armored does not help very much.
Dear police men and women. Be safe out there but please don’t bully, assault, taser or shoot us. OK?