Source: Radio New Zealand
Gun Control co-founder Philippa Yasbek Supplied
Gun control advocates have breathed a sigh of relief after the coalition unveiled its long-awaited overhaul of the Arms Act.
The rewrite contains many changes, though most are relatively minor that either tweak or tighten existing gun regulations.
Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee fought to widen access to military-style semi-automatic (MSSAs) firearms but failed.
Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee has been working to rewrite the Arms Act. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
“The proposal that I took to Cabinet included very strict rules and regulations over who could operate large capacity magazines and semi-automatic firearms under strict range conditions but it still was rejected by my Cabinet colleagues.
“I tried, I’m disappointed too, but I wasn’t prepared to hold up the entire Arms Act, to fight over it, when there’s a good win for everybody in it.”
Police Minster Mark Mitchell said National did not want to widen access to semi-automatic guns, even for competitive shooting.
“It is a public safety issue and we don’t see that there needs to be a wider or a broader availability around military-style semi-automatic weapons.”
The ACT Party has invoked the ‘agree to disagree’ clause over the stand off, [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/560619/act-invokes-agree-to-disagree-clause-over-firearms-registry-review
as it did over the firearms registry in May.]
Gun Control co-founder Philippa Yasbek said news the effective ban on military-style semi-automatic firearms had survived the overhaul was a relief.
“McKee has built her entire political career on wanting to get rid of the registry and bring back semi automatic firearms and she’s basically failed on both of those goals.
“So this is quite a big relief and I don’t think there’s any chance of her ever managing to change it again. Souffle’s don’t rise twice.”
Federation of Islamic Association chairperson Abdur Razzaq welcomed the rewrite and said he hoped gun law reform would not be revisited for several decades.
“It seems the trajectory is right. The government has balanced the safety consideration and also the usage of the arms of the licence holders. We are particularly pleased about the MSSAs.”
Federation of Islamic Association chairperson Abdur Razzaq welcomed the rewrite. RNZ/Jessie Curran
“One of the key legacies of the 51 shahada was to make New Zealand safe, particularly from the menace of the semi automatic killing machines and it’s good to see that the ACT Party has finally realised, and of course the Prime Minister and Winston Peters, that this is the right way to go.
Council of Licenced Firearms Owners spokesperson Hugh Devereux-Mack said it was disappointing the effective ban on semi-automatics remained intact, though he backed the Minister’s efforts.
“When it comes to semi-automatics, we can understand that there’s no need for the wider New Zealand firearms community to have those but some exceptions for competitive sport shooters or individuals who use firearms for pest control but are not professionals…would be very helpful.”
“We can’t know what happened inside that Cabinet room to know how hard [McKee] fought for this so it’s really hard to comment on her efforts, but knowing that she is an expert in firearms, as well as a former educator, we as a community have to have faith that she did what she could and that they’ve invoked this agree to disagree clause for a reason.”
The legislation will be introduced to the House before the end of the year.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
