A bank hold up in Albany. Just one of the many uses for a firearm in New Zealand.
We’re beginning to think that the police estimate of 1.1 firearms in circulation in New Zealand may be a little on the conservative side.
You may remember a while ago a TV reporter was able to forge a licence and buy a rifle through mail order. Well, gang members don’t even have to be that devious. They just do everything legally because the lax system enables them to, almost literally, get away with murder.
This is in today’s NZ Herald
A gang member was able to legally buy 18 high-powered firearms before police cottoned on – and now the cache has vanished.
The man, understood to be a patched member of the Headhunters Motorcycle Club, bought the guns, including high-powered semi-automatic rifles, with a value of about $30,000, between 2012 and 2015, the Herald has learned.
It is understood that in January, police went to the Northland man to revoke his licence and guns, only to find he had already sold them…
Labour’s police spokesman Stuart Nash said the case highlighted the changes needed to toughen current firearms laws to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.
“How did a person like this get a licence in the first place?” he asked. “You’ve got to have a good character test … and guys like this do not pass this in any way, shape or form.”
A police spokesman said typically a gang member’s convictions and/or associations would mean they fail the fit and proper person requirements.
And the police wonder why there’s a gun offence almost every day in New Zealand?
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Mail order guns as easy as taking candy from a baby
An investigative journalist (yes, there are one or two left in New Zealand) has exposed a flaw in New Zealand’s gun controls by buying a mail-order .22 rifle without a firearms licence.
Heather du Plessis-Allan purchased the rifle from a NZ company that bills itself as the “world’s largest gun store” using nothing more than $300, a fake name and fake gun licence. Apparently, there was no cross checking or validation that her gun licence was genuine. Ms du Plessis-Allan didn’t even have to produce ID for her purchase.
The NZ media/police are calling the process a “loophole” but its looks like a dirty great pothole that police have probably been aware of for some time
Buying firearms in New Zealand has been likened to taking candy from a baby: its so easy for crims to buy firearms! Actually, there are so many firearms in circulation that supply has obviously outstripped demand: Ms du Plessis-Allan could have bought her rifle cheaper on the black market:… read on
E2NZ.org 
As a person who lived in the U.S for more than two decades I have a different perspective on gun control,I believe any sane person who does not have a serious or violent conviction to their name should have access to firearms however the first time they use one to commit a crime they should be put away for a very long time .I want to be able to protect myself from criminals who already have guns,also it keeps the police and government in line if they know they have an armed populace to deal with.
@mcleodkiwitony The problem is that is NZ there is the reverse situation – the criminal elements of the populace are armed but the Police and most law abiding citizens are unarmed. Re. The USA where just about every man and his dog has a gun – how is that working out for them then? No gun crime in the USA, eh? No problems with trigger happy cops who are jumpy and terrified because so many of them have been shot at previously by armed offenders. Yeah let’s just give every fool a gun and what could possibly go wrong?
In my view the USA is too far to one extreme and NZ is too far to the other. In my view guns need to be taken away from criminals and the NZ Police need to be armed so they can better protect the community.
Brian Burgess,
Agreed, State and Federal police here in Australia are usually armed. As a citizen, I feel much safer seeing armed police–they can defend themselves and deal with offenders. I’m amazed that the NZ police are unarmed.
As to the situation in the US. People buy guns to defend themselves from other people with guns. Americans are more likely to accidentally kill themselves, their children, friends or neighbours, or be shot because of a traffic incident than be attacked by armed criminals.
I’d also agree with your comments in regard to US police. American police are militarised because the population is militarised, I’m not surprised that they get a bit trigger happy.
You need to stop reading what the MSM spouts. Some statistical analysis will debunk most of those.
Suicide being labeled as “gun crime”, guns being used successfully as self defense not reported…
mcleodkiwitony,
It’s not the 18th century, reliance on an ‘armed populace’ as a protection from the government is a fantasy. How long do you think any of these self-styled militias would last against a well trained modern army? Governments these days can control the public by lying, spying and manipulating information, they don’t need firearms.
I’m a former firearm owner btw.
Yes, I don’t recall the police in the USA going after Bernstein & Woodward. In NZ even though I didn’t agree with the timing of Hager’s book, what has happened since is deeply concerning. I wouldn’t be surprised if even mentioning his name on a forum like this probably raises a security alert somewhere.
Who cares ,intimidation is a tool of fools and bullies ,what do you care if speaking up for your rights raises red flags ,you should be aware that this sight is most likely already monitored by the GCSB .
During Ww 2 Japan considered invading the U.S and thought the better of it after assessing the number of firearms in private ownership and the skill level of the local populace at using their weapons ,as far as well trained modern armies that’s a bunch of horse manure ,a former firearm owner does not make a person a military tactician or a modern weaponry expert ,this whole discussion is continually debated on U.S forums so I won’t go there ,if you haven’t experienced a society with the capability and resources to use modern weaponry a person couldn’t really know what they are discussing,the U.S is full of government trained ex military who are disenfranchised .believe me the government is very very afraid of upsetting the N.R.A.
They militia wouldn’t last a minute in this country ,however if you ever noticed,Mr Key doesn’t travel without armed security ,neither do most world leaders ,they understand the power of violence because they use it against their own populations and live in continual fear of being victims of violence themselves.
The 2A is a beautiful thing.
If you are a member of the ruling class
Or if you just want to defend yourself.
If you drive around the countryside in the lower South Island you will notice that every road sign is riddled with bullet holes. Bored country lads having a night out drinking, driving and shooting. I have read all sorts of stories in recent months of stray bullets flying places. A guy was shot in the leg in Timaru while working, another guy in Timaru had a stray bullet come through the window of his office. A couple of people in Dunedin found bullets in their decks. People terrorised in camping grounds with bullets flying about the place. A few years ago a lovely young woman was shot dead in a camping ground when some drunken young men somehow thought she was a deer. I don’t want to exaggerate the issue but there do seem to be some careless gun users out there.
Meanwhile the NZ Police are unarmed. Sure there is an armed offenders squad and there may be a weapon available in a nearby Police vehicle, but that’s not much help when someone suddenly pulls a knife or pulls out a gun on the Police. How can they be expected to protect the public when they aren’t even equipped to protect themselves? A society that fails to protect its Police also fails to protect itself.
Exactly. The Police being unarmed is one of the most Moronic, Brain dead policies (there are so many it’s hard to keep track here) – but I am SO careful everywhere I go – and hardly go anywhere anymore (not that there’s really much to do or anywhere worth going) — I have seen and experienced too much. And heh, that photo of the robbery in Albany (Albany is supposedly one of the “nice” local towns nearby, with a fairly new mall and tons of housing recently built!) – that sort of Crim is so typical here its terrifying. No one does a damned thing, about them either… Hilarious thing is the plentiful amount of self-righteous Kiwis that actually think there’s no problem and bag constantly on the USA for our “gun issues.”
Courage to do the cops’ job, Wisdom to know the difference between Right and Wrong, Justice, and Rule of law are just passe here. Law-abiding citizens thinking of moving to NZ, you are forewarned.