You Missed

Well the deadline is today and the government won’t have received even 20% of the guns that the new law demanded be handed in. Despite wasting countless millions of taxpayer’s dollars.

The new gun laws will make us no safer. We know this because of two simple facts. We know that literally 99% of gun crime is perpetrated by people without a gun license. The new gun laws – all of them – ignore these criminals. You cannot solve a problem while ignoring 99% of its cause.

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

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

This was a disgraceful end run around democracy. After the lie that over thirteen thousand submissions had been carefully considered by parliament in just two days.

But then came the final insult. Even as this government stripped the lawful of their rights and threatened licensed gun owners with draconian penalties for non-compliance – they have also forgiven our worst gun criminals.

Remember that career criminal who stole twenty six guns from our incompetent police? He was just asked to apologize and will be unlucky to serve even a year in prison.

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.

On the day that I made my verbal submission to the committee considering the next tranche of gun laws the Police were on the news. They were warning the public not to approach an offender because he was “Known to carry guns”.

How can a New Zealand criminal that dangerous be ‘known’ for anything other than being in prison? But one offender has nine separate convictions after being found with illegal guns.

Another gangster has nine convictions for threatening Police with a gun. Over fifty criminals have more than one conviction for that offence. So they did it one, received a penalty and felt comfortable in doing it again.

Like the offender who has 46 separate firearm convictions. Actually I should check on him again. He may have passed fifty by now.

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. We can’t change that.

The good news is that we can control criminals. Yet we do not. This must change. The theft or use of a firearm in a crime must become unthinkable in New Zealand.

Nine percent of ALL gang members have five or more firearm convictions. Recidivism is the problem. This must be addressed. The use of a firearm in a crime must become an automatic aggravating factor at the time of sentencing.

Shooters getting bigger safes achieves nothing when the government allows gangsters to invade our homes and demand that these are opened at knife point.

Why would they not? The Police only catch 8% of gun thieves. The courts forgive the few that they catch.

The constant refrain from the anti-shooting Members of Parliament 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 250,000 licensed gun owners were never a problem. We all know where the problem really was but this government chose to ignore it.

Instead, today this government just manufactured thousands of fresh criminals. Shame on them.

 

 

 

Mike Loder is an Auckland shooter who has spent the last thirty years begging select committees for realistic sentencing of our worst – recidivist – firearm offenders.

He purchased a new rifle to celebrate this Pearl anniversary.