COLFO News 18th June 2020 after reading the Bill
This is the email I never wanted to write. Despite the evidence, despite the Royal Commission having not even reported back yet, and despite the mounting evidence that a key factor which led to the terrible events in Christchurch was the Police’s mistakes in not following the old law (or their own policies on vetting) tonight Parliament passed the third and final reading of the Arms Legislation Bill 63 votes to 50.
Labour, the Green Party and New Zealand First supported the Bill through the last step to become law.
This is a terrible injustice imposed on licenced firearm owners to cover Police mistakes. Nicole's comments to the media are copied below:
FIREARMS OWNERS VICTIMS OF POLICE ERROR
THURSDAY 18 JUNE 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) says the passage of the Arms Legislation Bill today is a ‘terrible injustice’ imposed upon the licenced firearm owning community to cover Police mistakes.
COLFO spokesperson Nicole McKee says the law punished firearm owners by changing licence rules that had worked perfectly well until Police switched resources and methods a few years ago.
“The licence rules worked, but it appears that Police didn’t apply them correctly to the Christchurch shooter. The new rules will only be as good as the people applying them
“Parliament should be embarrassed to have passed a law before anyone – including a Royal Commission - has worked out what the problem was.
“Rather than wait for information on what led to a tragic event and make recommendations, the Government and Police have lashed out at a group of people they had repeatedly certified as trustworthy and of good character.”
McKee says the new law does not have a single clause that will make people safer than they were before the Christchurch shooting, so COLFO intended to work with Police to make their implementation more effective.
“Not one New Zealander is made safer by this law. Implementation will be made worse by the Police being under-resourced, as we saw in their bungle of the gun confiscation and poor writing of these laws."
McKee thanked the thousands of supporters who came out in force to meet with their local MPs, make submissions to the Finance and Expenditure Committee, and attend protests throughout the country.
“Our opposition to this bill activated thousands of ordinary New Zealanders up and down the country and spurred them into action. This issue will dominate their vote in the coming general election,” she says.
ENDS
Last-minute changes:
There were some positive changes as the Bill went through Parliament this week -
There is still a lot wrong with the Bill. We are still very concerned that -
What happens now?
As soon as the Governor-General signs off on the Bill, some of it will come in to affect immediately, including the high penalties for existing offences.
There will also be newly prohibited firearms. These can be found here. The Government has given an indication that there will be a new amnesty and compensation scheme for these firearms. But they haven't released any of the details on that yet. We will be fighting for clarity on this as soon as possible.
Other provisions like the new offence of possessing ammunition without a licence and the new firearm licence provisions (including needing a health practitioner) will come into force in 6 months time. The regime for sporting clubs and ranges is two years away, and the registry (and your obligations to enter information in it) three years away.
Not all is lost
The election is only 93 days away. ACT has been campaigning hard on this issue and clearly the response we saw from National this week shows that they see there are votes in this too. NZ First has said they will push for more post-election if they are in Government.
Thank you to the thousands of you who came out in force to meet with your local MPs, make Select Committee submissions and attend protests throughout the country.
Thanks to you, at least 50 parliamentarians know that gun owners can't be silenced. We only need another 11 to overturn what happened today, and understand that hammering law-abiding and responsible licenced firearms owners doesn't make New Zealand safer.
Michael Dowling 18/6/20