Submission from the Kiwi Gun Blog

The Kiwi Gun Blog

I write this submission in opposition to the Bill and on behalf of the Kiwi Gun Blog and its more than ten thousand active supporters.

These men, women and young adults are among the most responsible, reasonable and lawful citizens in New Zealand. Please consider our concerns.

It should be noted that several Members of Parliament are on record as saying that if the first amendments to our gun laws had not been rushed through in a matter of panicked days – then they never would have been.

This was a disgraceful end run around democracy.

Good law does not need emotion, a lack of opposition and mass propaganda to pass. As I said in my submission at the time – only a conman needs to create a false sense of urgency.

Please consider the submissions of subject matter experts this time around.

Please don’t allow Police to filter out the truth before it reaches you. As they did in the first round.

It is very disappointing that this second tranche of laws has also been rushed – with a slashed time for submissions – for no apparent reason. Many shooters, across the nation, had wanted to appear before this committee. As they had been able to do during consideration of previous gun law changes.

“Most shooters are not the problem…”

This is a gross insult. Literally 99% of gun crime is perpetrated by people without a gun license. With a quarter of a million licensed firearm owners and at least that number again shooting under supervision with them – it is an insult to suggest that even a percentage of us are an issue. We are not.

Figures released by Police simple make a lie of Prime Minister Adern’s claims to the contrary.

The constant refrain of the debate these last months has been: “I had no idea that….”

…. there we so many shooters.

Or  …… so many guns.

Or  …… guns of that type.

Well – You are welcome.

You didn’t know because WE ARE NOT A PROBLEM.

The final insult…

Even as this government has stripped the lawful of their rights and threatened licensed gun owners with several increased penalties for non-compliance – they have also forgiven our worst gun criminals.

The career criminal who stole twenty six guns from our incompetent police was just asked to apologize and will be unlucky to serve even a year.

Our worst ever gun theft was perpetrated by a career criminal serving a non-custodial sentence for their LAST gun crime. After a history of gun crime. They have JUST been paroled early. From an already pathetic sentence.

Such readily identifiable threats are ignored in these proposed laws.

Bias of the committee

It is inappropriate for MP Deborah Russell to be the Chairperson of this Committee. Or even associated with it. She has displayed extreme bias in this area and even boasted of strong ties to an anti-shooting extremist group. Headed by a family member.

This MP even gushed in the house about her ‘Aunty Marie’ providing her (False) information on which to base her strongly voiced anti shooting opinions.

This is beyond bias and this MP had made clear that she is unable to give fair consideration to any submission.

It should be noted that ‘Auntie Marie’s’ firearm qualifications consist of studying breastfeeding policy and women and cycling. Her hate group was funded by a government ‘research grant’ for a faux report that never eventuated.

Shooters are not divided on opposing these laws…

Our Police have behaved in a truly disturbing way while implementing the new gun laws. They have abandoned the role of enforcer to become PR spokespeople. Snake oil salesmen.

They have deleted any criticism on their social media pages. They even admitted ordering officers to hand private arms in early to give the appearance that the buyback was a success. To suggest shooters were ‘Generally supportive”. We are not.

Even those VERY few organizations who supported the first tranche of gun laws now oppose it. Except that one guy still chasing government contracts.

These groups are equally concerned about this latest attack on the lawful:

Here is what the people of New Zealand NEED from new gun laws:

1. Management of the arms act must be removed from the Police and given to an independent authority. Itself with independent oversight. The decades of Police incompetence and corruption in this area of responsibility must end.

Repeated polling proves that this idea has HUGE support.

2. The use of a firearm in a crime must automatically become an aggravating factor at the time of sentencing. One offender has 46 separate firearm offences. Such cases are an obscenity.

Nine percent of ALL gang members have five or more firearm convictions. Recidivism is the problem. This must be addressed. The proposed new laws ignore this easy fix.

3. The theft of a firearm must attract a new penalty. Harsh, mandatory and to be served consecutively with any other sentence. Shooters getting bigger safes achieves nothing when the government allows gangsters to invade our homes and demand that these are opened.

4. Shooters must be able to seek help from doctors in time of stress without fear that they will be reported to Police. Anything else leaves society in danger.

The law must also recognize that mental health issues can be as fleeting as any other illness.

Shooters are very concerned that every GP doctor would have the ability to reliably predict future firearm offending by a patient. An online psychic would be of equal value.

5. We should return to the lifetime license. Police have confirmed that the ten year license has achieved nothing. At all. A five year license would achieve twice that nothing at twice the expense. We have secured evidence from the Police in the way of hard statistics that prove there to be no difference between the lifetime and ten year license systems.

6. The rejection of registration. Police can’t even track the gun they used to frighten the last select committee into adopting their new gun laws.

They have no idea where this rifle is from.

The owner does. He was told that it had been destroyed. He was supposed to get it back. He was surprised to see it on TV.

Details of the few guns that Police currently register are an inaccurate farce. Already. Any suggestion that they can keep millions in a useable system is laughable.

I have JUST asked Police for a list of my recorded arms. To insure that my records were updated. I found a new rifle assigned to me that I had never heard of.

It is now up to me to prove a negative. To prove that I have never owned it. When Police may alledge that I have sold it to a gang. My list of recorded arms has NEVER been accurate. Not once in decades of revetting and ‘random checks’.

You should note that if you campaign to stop Police corruption – your ‘Random checks’ become much more common.

Oh and that is not the first time that I have inherited a mystery gun on my records from nowhere. The last one took DECADES to correct and remove.

I have very few firearms to confuse any situation. This problem of inaccuracy in recordkeeping is more than common among shooters – such incompetence is standard practice.

Registration is a proven failure everywhere it has been tried. Including HERE. Where it was 66% inaccurate. Stuat Nash has suggested these were the issues of the past. He lied. Canada just dumped their system as useless and our Police are failing at even the tiny task they have NOW.

7. The Bill of Rights and international precedent must be respected. In several areas of our gun law, shooters can be made to prove themselves innocent. The new proposals would strip us of even more rights.

This government seems intent on treating lawful shooters with LESS protection in law than known gangsters. That is obscene. That is not acceptable.

Under the new amendments, shooters would no longer have the right to remain silent. Police could simply make law. There would be no right of appeal or independent review. Police errors could become a citizen’s crime. Our homes could be searched without cause. Our privacy in every area – simply gone.

8. Below is a picture of some of the guns smuggled into New Zealand each year.

It is a myth that criminals acquire their guns only from lawful shooters.

The next image shows some of the ten percent of guns that are confiscated in Australia each year that are HOME MADE. Often in sophisticated factories.

Criminals have PROVEN that they will smuggle guns or modify things into guns or steal guns or make guns. But they will always have access to guns. The good news is that we CAN control criminals. Yet we do not. This must change.

The use of a firearm in a crime must become unthinkable in New Zealand. Yet the new laws ignore the issue.

9. Parliament and the public need solid data on which to base decisions. Police have admitted that they now count broomsticks as reported gun crime when a paranoid citizen sparks a callout.

Their press releases include images of inert replicas passed off as real guns:

Or blank firing toys passed off as real pistols:

It is not the job of the police to create fear or to ‘Sell’ bad law. The have recently been caught multiplying gun crime numbers by a factor of ten. Their credibility has suffered greatly.

11. Police must replace a stolen / lost firearm license with one bearing a NEW number. Like every other government department does. So a hot list of numbers can be made available. They now refuse to do so.
12. Police must begin to vet criminals returning to New Zealand from Australia. They have armed some with over fifty convictions. They have armed thousands altogether. Police admit that many have gone on to commit gun crime and in some cases, even killed.

This was all before they failed us with the Christchurch horror but their failure continues to this day.

13. Police must treat reported gun thefts with a greater priority than a stolen toaster. As it stands, they do not. Senior Police actually laughed when we asked for this to change. This is why Police only catch 8% of gun thieves (These are police numbers).
14. I had a kinky girlfriend. She would call me in the morning to say the deviant activities that she intended for that evening. This is also how Police ‘Consult’ with shooters.

They tell us that they are going to screw us. Then they do. Only often with less notice than Sandra gave.

Police will NOT work with shooters. Any pretense of doing so – even when ordered by parliament and their Minister – has proven a contemptuous farce.

Such consultation MUST happen and it MUST be consistent and it MUST be outside of Police control.

14. Police constantly threaten an increase in costs to shooters – in order to continue failing in their task. However nobody has asked where costs can be SAVED.

For example, Police admit that random checks achieve nothing. So just stop them. A return to the lifetime license would also solve the invented problem of cost recovery in one action – with NO LOSS OF PUBLIC SAFETY.

15. The true intent of these laws is to punish shooters into no longer shooting. That will work. For many. But many more will continue shooting – outside of law. OUTSIDE OF CONTROL.

Guns will become more available to those who should not have them. Including the untrained, the unstable, the criminal and terrorists.

It is well understood that the Police are running Parliament here. They created the error that caused this horror. They wrote the new laws that resulted and they campaigned for them. They managed the submissions that Parliament heard. Then they implemented their laws. Badly.

They now seek to insert more of their childlike wish list into law. As they have said to media – “Less guns = less gun crime”. Meanwhile the Swiss hand out machineguns to their citizens like candy and enjoy near nonexistent gun crime. While Mexico had to release a drug king pin this week after losing a gun battle with a gang. After banning guns.

Please give New Zealand what she needs and not just what an out of control Police force wants.

17. The mad flailing of Police to implement a buyback scheme has proven an unmitigated disaster. As the low compliance has proven. It is completely unfair and needs to be thoroughly investigated by an independent body.
18. The deadline for compliance with the new laws must be extended. To the period that was originally suggested in the advice to Minister. Police have only just approved the gunsmiths needed to convert tens of thousands of arms to a legal state. With only weeks to perform this task – the numbers don’t add up.

They have likewise only just approved valuers to assess the more expensive arms. Months late. There – Is – Now – No – Time – To – Follow – The – Law.

18. The prohibited ammunition order, that was invented from nowhere and with zero consultation, needs to be scraped. It is clumsy and frankly illegal.

It demands that citizens surrender millions of dollars of property with zero compensation. That is against all legal precedents.

To say that the implementation of this edict is ill-considered would be the understatement of the century. Police were given advice on a Friday afternoon when the deadline for compliance was the following Monday!

This is a solution in search of a problem. It simply denies shooters affordable surplus ammunition for skill building.

20. The district courts must be left the opportunity to overturn the Police revocation of gun licenses. Such appeals are 90% successful for a reason.
21. The proposed amendments will give Police far too much arbitrary power to decide what is an individuals ‘extreme views’. Media leaks have already revealed that simply campaigning for reasonable firearm law is enough to get someone on a watch list.

Police have already visited people’s home to demand explanations for very mainstream political views. At best, the cooling effect of such red flag powers are a death to open discourse and free speech.

21. The penalties for an error in judgment or procedure under the proposed rules are entirely disproportionate and vindictive. They must be revisited.

22. Under the new amendments an applicant can be denied a license for simply being charged with a minor offence. Simply swearing in a far away land if you stub your toe is enough to lose rights at home. This clumsy and draconian limitation must not be allowed.

23. Several areas of the proposed laws expect Police to be experts in firearms. Police are not. A Police officer was just shot in the bum. My own arms officer blew out the station window with a firearm. The officer who vetted me was only shot at once in his career – by another officer. A uniform does not an expert make.

Additional Material

I have also included eight infographic videos to aid in your greater understanding of the issues detailed above.

I wish to make a verbal submission in support of this data. 

Thank you for your consideration.

On behalf of the Kiwi Gun Blog and our ten thousand plus subscribers,

Mike Loder