PRESS RELEASE: MORE SENSELESS WASTE FROM LABOUR
DATE: 11 JULY 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Police Minister, Stuart Nash has announced his backing for a national firearms database, a theme also being pushed by Police Union boss Chris Cahill. Both men state it will stop gun related crime.
Nash, Cahill and other advocates for gun control believe that knowing how many firearms there are in New Zealand, and who owns them, will reduce firearms related crime. The register will cover all lawful firearms licence holders and their legal firearms.
It will, of course, not include any criminals or illegally owned guns.
Police data, supplied in response to many Official Information Act requests reveals the following:
- 99% (literally) of all firearms offences in New Zealand are committed by those without a firearms licence – the ones that will not be on the gun register.
- one single offender has 46 separate firearms convictions – an offender whose illegal firearms will not be on the gun register.
- The worst five gun offenders have a collective total of 135 firearms convictions – offenders guns that will not be on the gun register.
- 9% of known gang members have been charged with five or more firearms offences – they will not be on the gun register.
- Less than 10% of those charged with firearms offences serve any additional time in prison for those offences.
If a gun register could be shown to reduce crime, there is no doubt that lawful firearms owners would happily register their guns accordingly. But it won’t because the criminals and their guns won’t be on it. Gang leaders have made it clear they will not hand in their now banned semi-automatics https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12217785, yet alone register their illegal ownership of illegal firearms.
“This will be another colossal waste of tax payers money” said hunting spokesperson Scott Taylor, “ we have underpaid teachers, homeless families and children going hungry – the things Labour promised to prioritise in their 2017 election campaign. Instead, they’re wasting tax payers’ money banning firearms, buying them back and now bringing in a firearms register that will have zero impact on gun crime”.
The Outdoors Party believes a better approach is to increase penalties and impose mandatory consecutive sentencing for firearms offences.
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CONTACT
Scott Taylor
Ph: 027 669 5996
