The failure of Police to follow the firearm licensing law, unjustly providing one to Australian terrorist Brenton Tarrant, means there are no reasons for changes to firearm laws says the Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO).
COLFO Chairman Michael Dowling says: “This revelation shows that changes to firearm laws immediately following the shooting were unjustified, and further changes are unnecessary. The shooting did not arise out of a problem with the New Zealand public, but with Tarrant himself and the government agencies that enabled him to carry out this atrocity. It is not New Zealanders that need to be fixed, but our institutions.”
Dowling said the Royal Commission of Inquiry report shows that Police failed to uphold the law when erroneously providing Tarrant with a firearms licence.
“Police did not follow the law that required them to check criminal records and interview family members before issuing a firearms licence. We see too often with our agencies, the individuals responsible for the decisions walk away with a new role and medal for attendance. We demand someone is held accountable for this grave error.”
The response of the Government and Police toward firearm owners was unjustifiable. The Prime Minister and Minister of Police has known about the mistake ever since the shooting, but said nothing: encouraging people to blame and demonise our members he said. The Police released a statement on 22 March 2019 claiming they followed correct processes in awarding Tarrant a firearms licence.
“The Police Minister stood in front of media, showing off destroyed firearms and deriding opposition as “gun nuts”, knowing the only reason Tarrant had some was that his own department had not followed the law,” said Dowling. “Instead of fixing the error immediately, the Government and Police acted like it was the fault of licensed firearm owners, confiscating our property, raiding our homes, and changing unrelated ownership rules.”
Dowling says that law-abiding licenced firearm owners deserve an apology from Police and their Minister.
“We demand an apology to New Zealand for making this country a less safe place, and unjustly stirring hostility against law-abiding firearm owners. The failure of Police to follow the law underlines the need for a new agency to administer the Arms Act. The New Zealand Police are not the right agency for the job.”
What an amateurish show by the Prime Minister and Police in saying Tarrant’s attack could not have been prevented and then apologising. The Commission somewhat weakly pointed to police failure in giving Tarrant a firearms licence. A couple of questions remain:-
Is it true Tarrant applied in Hamilton when he lived in Dunedin?
Is it true Tarrant was known to Australian security and being watched?
Agree with COLFO an apology is due from PM and police to firearm owning public.
Also an admission from PM and police and the shrilly vocal Police Association president Chris Cahill that the select committee process, considering 12,000 submissions in two days for rushed firearm law was an affront to democracy.
The police involved, from the Commissioner down, should be sacked. The Police Minister and the Prime Minister should resign.
Wonderful, just wonderful. Eighteen months and God knows how much taxpayer’s money to tell us what most of us already knew. Nash and Ardern are a national embarrassment and should resign, shame on them.
Nash and Ardern are just an embarrassment to New Zealand and it law abiding people. They should see the error of their ways and step down before they cause civil unrest. Any more such changes in laws will be taken very seriously. How many red flags do the police have to have .
Our Prime Minister makes much of decrying “Hate Speech” but didn’t she and her Police Minister Nash deliver the worst examples of this when they went around branding all Licenced Firearms Owners, “White Supremists”, Sending out an armed political Police Force, accompanied by what appeared a political hack wearing just part of a police uniform to question LFO’s of why they didn’t vote Labour- amongst other crazy, belittling questions. LFO’s, already in probably more shock than most because of this attack on their country, LFO’s, the group most called on by Police, at least up until that time, for any Search and Rescue or Public Service Duties who suddenly found themselves being hunted because of mistakes made by Prime Minister, her Government and Police! But? Was it a mistake or just another move to fulfil the moves towards UN Agenda 21/30 “Remove firearms from the general public and arm-up Police so that when you have to carry out the hard moves, you will get no resistance from the subjects”.
Will the police incompetence in granting the terrorist a firearm licence be swept under the carpet or will those to blame be made accountable?
Vigilantibus Et Non-Dormientibus Jura Subveniunt
It would seem law abiding citizens have been made scapegoats for others stupidity.