Have Your Say on Proposed Gun Law Changes
We were recently hit with the announcement of the second round of proposed changes to our gun laws.
As expected, they serve to make life as difficult and expensive as possible for gun owners while doing nothing to prevent crime.
We've got a bunch of bad policies to fight, most notably the following:
(1) Registration, which will leave all gun owners at risk of further confiscation, or the hacking of the database and theft by criminals who gain access to their details.
(2) Trying to make a law stating that firearms ownership isn't a right, despite the fact that governments can neither grant rights nor take them away, as by definition they are intrinsic and inalienable.
(3) Vaguely defined new criteria on what constitutes a "fit and proper" person. I'm sure the police would never reinterpret that to screw us, right?
(4) Giving police expanded powers to enter and search the homes of gun owners. Apparently all those raids on innocent people after Christchurch didn't go far enough...
(5) Giving police access to people's medical records(so much for doctor-patient confidentiality), so people will be forced to hide their problems rather than seek help for fear of getting their firearms confiscated.
I'm sure stigmatising people with mental health problems and treating them like criminals couldn't have any negative effects...
(6) Requiring a firearms licence to purchase parts or magazines. The police are already struggling with the paperwork from requiring import permits for all parts and accessories, so I'm not sure how they'd handle that.
(7) Requiring license renewals every five years and increasing fees to make owning firearms as expensive as possible, and attempting to shut lower-income people out of firearms ownership altogether.
(8) Regulations on firearms and ammunition advertisements. I don't know about you, but I rarely see any such advertisements outside hunting and shooting magazines as it is, so I'm not sure what that's all about.
There are a few other proposals as well. If you can, take the time to read through them more thoroughly.
And finally, the one proposal that actually made any sense, requiring citizenship for a firearms licence, turned out to be a mistake and was quickly abandoned.
While permanent residents and people who can show a firearms licence from their country of residence should be allowed as well, the basic concept is sound and surprisingly reasonable.
That is the one thing that would have prevented the Christchurch terrorist from getting a firearms license, and the government isn't interested. Priorities, right...
If like me you disagree with these proposals and want to voice your opposition, here is your chance to have a say.
You should also make a submission to the select committee when it happens as well, but this is a good start for now.
Here are the email addresses for all 120 MPs. Just Bcc them all and let them know what you think of these proposals.
amy.adams@parliament.govt.nz; kiritapu.allan@parliament.govt.nz; virginia.andersen@parliament.govt.nz; jacinda.ardern@parliament.govt.nz; KanwaljitSingh.Bakshi@parliament.govt.nz; Darroch.Ball@parliament.govt.nz; Maggie.Barry@parliament.govt.nz; Andrew.bayly@parliament.govt.nz; david.bennett@parliament.govt.nz; paula.bennett@parliament.govt.nz; Daniel.Bidois@parliament.govt.nz; Chris.bishop@parliament.govt.nz; simon.bridges@parliament.govt.nz; simeon.brown@parliament.govt.nz; gerry.brownlee@parliament.govt.nz; david.carter@parliament.govt.nz; david.clark@parliament.govt.nz; tamati.coffey@parliament.govt.nz; judith.collins@parliament.govt.nz; liz.craig@parliament.govt.nz; clare.curran@parliament.govt.nz; Marama.Davidson@parliament.govt.nz; Kelvin.Davis@parliament.govt.nz; jacqui.dean@parliament.govt.nz; matt.doocey@parliament.govt.nz; sarah.dowie@parliament.govt.nz; ruth.dyson@parliament.govt.nz; paul.eagle@parliament.govt.nz; kris.faafoi@parliament.govt.nz; andrew.falloon@parliament.govt.nz; paulo.garcia@parliament.govt.nz; julieanne.genter@parliament.govt.nz; golriz.ghahraman@parliament.govt.nz; paul.goldsmith@parliament.govt.nz; nathan.guy@parliament.govt.nz; Joanne.Hayes@parliament.govt.nz; peeni.henare@parliament.govt.nz; harete.hipango@parliament.govt.nz; chris.hipkins@parliament.govt.nz; brett.hudson@parliament.govt.nz; gareth.hughes@parliament.govt.nz; Raymond.huo@parliament.govt.nz; willie.jackson@parliament.govt.nz; shane.jones@parliament.govt.nz; Anahila@parliament.govt.nz; nikki.kaye@parliament.govt.nz; matt.king@parliament.govt.nz; Barbara.kuriger@parliament.govt.nz; denise.lee@parliament.govt.nz; Melissa.Lee@parliament.govt.nz; iain.lees-galloway@parliament.govt.nz; andrew.little@parliament.govt.nz; jan.logie@parliament.govt.nz; agnes.loheni@parliament.govt.nz; marja.lubeck@parliament.govt.nz; jo-anne.luxton@parliament.govt.nz; tim.macindoe@parliament.govt.nz; nanaia.mahuta@parliament.govt.nz; trevor.mallard@parliament.govt.nz; jenny.marcroft@parliament.govt.nz; ron.mark@parliament.govt.nz; tracey.martin@parliament.govt.nz; kieran.mcanulty@parliament.govt.nz; todd.mcclay@parliament.govt.nz; ian.mckelvie@parliament.govt.nz; clayton.mitchell@parliament.govt.nz; Mark.Mitchell@parliament.govt.nz; Todd.muller@parliament.govt.nz; Stuart.nash@parliament.govt.nz; alfred.ngaro@parliament.govt.nz; Damien.O'Connor@parliament.govt.nz; greg.o'connor@parliament.govt.nz; simon.o'connor@parliament.govt.nz; david.parker@parliament.govt.nz; Parmjeet.Parmar@parliament.govt.nz; mark.patterson@parliament.govt.nz; chris.penkmp@parliament.govt.nz; winston.peters@parliament.govt.nz; willow-jean.prime@parliament.govt.nz; maureen.pugh@parliament.govt.nz; priyanca.radhakrishnan@parliament.govt.nz; shane.reti@parliament.govt.nz; grant.robertson@parliament.govt.nz; jami-lee.ross@parliament.govt.nz; Adrian.rurawhe@parliament.govt.nz; deborah.russell@parliament.govt.nz; eugenie.sage@parliament.govt.nz; Jenny.Salesa@parliament.govt.nz; Alastair.scott@parliament.govt.nz; carmel.sepuloni@parliament.govt.nz; david.seymour@parliament.govt.nz; james.shaw@parliament.govt.nz; scott.simpson@parliament.govt.nz; Aupito.william.sio@parliament.govt.nz; nick.smith@parliament.govt.nz; Stuart.smith@parliament.govt.nz; erica.stanford@parliament.govt.nz; jamie.strange@parliament.govt.nz; chloe.swarbrick@parliament.govt.nz; Fletcher.Tabuteau@parliament.govt.nz; Jan.tinetti@parliament.govt.nz; rino.tirikatene@parliament.govt.nz; anne.tolley@parliament.govt.nz; phil.twyford@parliament.govt.nz; louise.upston@parliament.govt.nz; tim.vandemolen@parliament.govt.nz; nicky.wagner@parliament.govt.nz; hamish.walker@parliament.govt.nz; louisa.wall@parliament.govt.nz; angie.warren-clark@parliament.govt.nz; duncan.webb@parliament.govt.nz; meka.whaitiri@parliament.govt.nz; poto.williams@parliament.govt.nz; nicola.willis@parliament.govt.nz; Michael.Wood@parliament.govt.nz; Michael.Woodhouse@parliament.govt.nz; Megan.Woods@parliament.govt.nz; jian.yang@parliament.govt.nz; jonathan.young@parliament.govt.nz; lawrence.yule@parliament.govt.nz;
