Protecting Responsible Firearms Ownership in New Zealand
So even while the Police are wasting their time with a revision of the finer points of our security – judges are handing out 100 hours of community service for the illegal possession of criminally modified guns!
Or if you are unlucky enough to get a hanging judge – then home detention.
That is it.Â
I don’t understand what you want ? Do you want everyone who’s unliscenced that has a gun to go to 5 years jail and cost $100,000 per year to keep inside ? What about the social costs ? Once someone goes in for that long, they won’t be “normal” again and will create more havoc in the community.
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We want everyone with a long record of damaging society, then caught in possession of a stolen, criminally modified, firearm, that is then stored unsafely with kids in the house, who wont say how they got the weapon, to get serious time in prison. Yes. The social coasts? Are you for real? We have had a baby blown away this year. A man shot to death. ‘Accidents’ with illegal arms. Not to mention the actual robberies and murders with them. Social costs… you grand dolt.
The problem is that safe storage of a firearm is a condition of the Licence – there is no offence for an unlicenced person other than unlawful possession until they actually commit a crime (Crimes Act – Not Arms Act). Mere possession is just a regulatory offence – i.e. not doing what they are told (which is a pervasive Kiwi trait – BTW!)
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IMO : While it is a far harder process it is now to get a licence and legally possess a firearm than when I was many years younger, the process itself is navigable with care and effort and the expenditure of time.
The best part I found about getting re-licensed was learning anew what I had forgotten and to be reminded of the essentials of safety.
People who have a firearm and aren’t licensed… Well there’s probably a good reason for that. Or, I should say, a bad reason.
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Perhaps these gents were just ensuring that they had the means to self defence handy. After all, the police cannot protect you and neither is it in their brief.
Anyone is entitled to use any means at their disposal to protect their own life or that of another, yet you appear to frown upon the populace having access to one of the most efficient means.
These gents had apparently done no harm and were charged with a regulatory offence of the Arms Act. This Act requires repeal as it is only a means of persecution and control and does nothing for public safety.
Had these gents done anything seriously wrong they would have been prosecuted under the Crimes Act 1961, and surely that is all that is required.
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They were criminally modified in every case.
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They were just modified to suit a practical purpose. Its not like you can have a rifle with 20 inch barrel and use it for defence . Like you have shortened screw drivers.
Stuff sometimes happens with guns just like anything else like a reversing car killing a toddler.
Please keep this blog on track for monitoring police abuse of the gun owners, and pursue issues like the need to shoot C-cats, pistols for hunting and self defence.
Keep up the good work. Thanks
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In that case it should still be stored safely – no excuses. It also doesnt explain the history of crime that always accompanies these stories. Thanks for your feedback.
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There is no requirement in law for the unlicenced to safely store firearms – that is a condition applied ONLY to Licence holders and there is no penalty other than revokation of firearms licence!
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Yes agreed that it should be safely stored.
The issue I have is that the cops will use the stricter sentences on their crooked cases like what happened to the howick dealer and Richard Lincoln not the monkeys which are too hard to catch and likely to fight back.
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