On Gun Control After the Christchurch Terrorist Attack.
In the wake of this tragedy, I want to show support for our PM, Jacinda Ardern for banning semi-automatic weapons and passing tighter gun control laws. One way of doing that is to look back at what we’ve done in the past, so we’re going to look back to 2017, which was the last time this issue was raised.
In 2017, a year-long parliamentary select committee into the possession of illegal firearms offered up 20 recommendations. Two-thirds were rejected by then-police minister Paula Bennett, who is a keen hunter.
Police Association president Chris Cahill said Bennett had rejected every meaningful recommendation put forward by the Law and Order Select Committee, and had “appeared to bow to the pressure of the gun lobby”.
Bennett rejected most recommendations from the select committee’s near year-long inquiry. Five of the committee’s nine members are National MPs, and it is chaired by National MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi. Labour MP’s Stuart Nash has also spoken in support of the actions taken by Bennett.
Rejected recommendations include requiring police to record serial numbers of all firearms upon renewal of licence or inspection, requiring a licence to possess ammunition, and making dealers keep records of ammunition sales.
Bennett also declined to act on the recommendation to investigate the creation of a category of restricted semi-automatic rifle and shotgun.
You can read the full report here, which lists all of the recommendations by the select committee for better gun control.
The official Government response to each individual item is as follows
1. A firearms licence required to possess ammunition. Reject.
2. A dealer’s licence required to sell ammunition. Reject.
3. Dealers required to keep records of ammunition sales. Reject.
4. Registration process for websites facilitating trading in firearms, parts, or ammunition. Partial rejection — not registration but clarify “mail order” process applies to online sales.
5. Permit to procure extended to cover all sales or transfers of firearms (i.e. include A-category firearms). Reject.
6. Investigate the creation of a category of restricted semi-automatic rifle and shotgun. Reject.
7. Implement firearm prohibition orders. Accept.
8. Codify the “fit and proper” criteria in the Arms Act. Reject.
9. Implement a stand-down period after licence revocation. Accept.
10. Clarify that gang members or prospects must not be considered “fit and proper” to possess firearms. Accept.
11. Require Police to record serial numbers of all firearms upon renewal of licence or inspection of premises. Reject.
12. Review the penalties in the Arms Act. Accept.
13. Treat dealer offending as aggravated at sentencing. Reject.
14. Determine appropriate security standards for A-category licences. Accept.
15. Secure storage confirmed before licence or endorsement received. Reject.
16. Allow Police to enter premises to inspect security of A-category firearms. Reject.
17. Failure to comply with storage regulations to result in mandatory revocation. Reject.
18. Clarify and publicise the extent of amnesty provisions in the Arms Act 1983. Accept.
19. Police publicise amnesty provisions. Reject.
20. Check that firearms brought in on visitors permit are exported or transferred legally. Accept.
The main part of these recommendation’s that would have had an impact on the Christchurch Shooter’s choice of weapon is the following:
“Investigate the creation of a category of restricted semi-automatic rifle and shotgun - Reject.”
Essentially, the report says that there are problems with the current definition of military-style semi-automatics (MSSA), and says that we need to reclassify some of these weapons that fall out of the strict definition, but still have similar capacities.
To address this, one possible option would be to amend the Arms Act to require all semiautomatic rifles and semi-automatic shotguns to require an “E” category endorsement. Consequently, there would be a requirement to have an “E” endorsement for the possession of any semi-automatic firearm or shotgun, and to provide special reasons when applying to import these firearms.
Many submitters were opposed to this option because they feared it would entail significant costs for the firearms community. These costs include additional fees, paperwork, and security arrangements. Submitters also noted that many people have semi-automatic rifles and shotguns for sporting purposes.
Currently, of the (2016 figures) 242,000 Class A (default class) gun licence holders, only 7400 hold class E. The licensing process is more stringent. Minimum gun security requirements are higher and there must be a valid reason to want an MSSA such as being part of a club or pest-control work.
In order to get your Class E, you must belong to a gun club that shoots Class E guns. You must have two referees that have E class. You need to complete an E class safety course. You must justify why you need the E Class, and clarify your experience and intentions. You must list all the guns that you currently own, and give their serials.
MSSA firearms must be registered against the owner’s licence.
“You can’t just rock up to a shop and buy an MSSA,” firearms safety specialist Nicole McKee said. “You have to go to police and get a permit to procure.
“You collect the MSSA from the dealer or person selling it to you and you must take that firearm into the police station to check off the serial numbers and its added to the list of approved, restricted firearms.”
New Zealand Prime Minster Ardern said the main gunman used five weapons, including two semi-automatic weapons, two shotguns, and a lever action firearm. She said he held a category A firearms license and appeared to have acquired his weapons legally. The licence was obtained in November 2017 and the gunman began purchasing the weapons in December of that year.
Despite the recommendation of the select committee in 2017, a Category A firearms license currently allows the ownership of some semi automatic weapons. The difference between “Military-Style Semi-Automatic” (which are included in E Cat and “Semi-Automatic” weapons (which are Category A) is largely cosmetic, but still have similar capacities.
One of the pivotal points in the legality of these rifles was the court action loss by the police in Police V Lincoln in 2010, which allows a so-called “thumbhole grip” to be exempt from the definition of “free standing pistol grip”. The end result is that weapons which can be easily modified to take high capacity magazines are complaint and can be passed as Category A if they are fitted with only a 7-round magazine.
This means with a Category A license you can go and buy a gun with a “thumbhole” stock (loosely defined) and it is legal until the moment you put an 8- (or 20, or 30) round magazine in it.
Nearly all AR-pattern rifles, the rifles famous for mass shootings in NZ, are A-Category compliant by default, because the legislation to correct the technical distinction has not changed. This matters because these weapons should be in E Class, a vastly higher level of restriction, with more vetting, stringent gun storage requirements, and other restrictions on use and purchase, such as serial number registration.
But due to the thumbhole stock loophole, you can get 90% of the functionality of an MSSA on an A-Category license, soley due to the cosmetic differences from the technical definition of a “military Style” weapon.
The adoption of the 2017 select committee recommendation to Require all semi-automatic rifles and semi-automatic shotguns to require an “E” category endorsement would not have affected most hunters or farmers who use bolt-, lever-, or pump-action rifles. However it would have — and still would — restrict the flow of military style weaponry and put an end to the sales of A-Category Assult Rifles which are truly MSSA weapons to anyone with the nous and inclination to buy a high-cap magazine.
Statutory gaps like these have been exploited in the past by people like Quinn Patterson, who acquired an ‘A Category’ semi-automatic using a friend’s firearms license and ‘converted’ it to an MSSA which he used to kill two people in July 2017 simply by adding a high capacity magazine to a legal gun.
Purchase of high-capacity magazines is unregulated and does not require a firearms licence — another change recommended by the 2017 select committee.
In 2018, Gun City owner David Tipple took court action over the Police decision not to allow new imports of AR15 semi-automatic rifles and parts.
Police Association president Chris Cahill said other than special category weapons, police have “no real understanding” of the number of firearms in the community and who has them.
They are imported illegally or stolen from legitimate owners with inadequate security.
“Grey firearms” are also a significant issue. That’s when firearms end up in the hands of unlicensed people due to a family death, expired licenses, or theft.
“How many incidents do we need before there is clear recognition there is a major issue with firearms ownership in New Zealand and the availability to criminals?” Cahill said.
In 1997, it was estimated between 10,000 and 25,000 illegally held firearms were in New Zealand. No other formal estimate has been done since.
Cahill is renewing calls for a firearms database — estimated to cost $30 million but rejected by the government for being too costly.
“We believe there needs to be a register, a database of all firearms, so we know where they are and then police can target checks for the ones that actually present a significant risk.
“At the moment, we don’t know where the firearms are and we don’t know who is purchasing them because there are no records kept on who is purchasing what.”
It is estimated there are more than 1.2 million legally owned firearms in New Zealand.
Between 2010 and 2015, police seized 6006 firearms — 88 of which fit the current legal definition of MSSAs.
Sources:
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http://bit.ly/2CnfWGN
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http://bit.ly/2T94800
http://bit.ly/2HALBHV
