Here in Alaska, USA we have a HUGE gun culture I am starting this thread so I can get a better understanding about NZ gun culture and gun regulations. Feel free to post anything on this topic my Kiwi friends!
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Here in Alaska, USA we have a HUGE gun culture I am starting this thread so I can get a better understanding about NZ gun culture and gun regulations. Feel free to post anything on this topic my Kiwi friends!
We are not allowed firearms for self defence purposes. Hunting target shooting plinking and collecting is what we've got. Pistols are a lot more regulated than long arms fully automatic way more regulated and not supposed to be fired and semi auto high capacity magazines allowed but more regulated than long arms. Hope this helps. Welcome to the forum.
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You could say Nz Firearms Culture is based around hunting with target shooting also being very very popular.
I would say people own guns just for the hell of it ( Even if they never make it out )
hunting and shooting is still ticking along . . . not the glory days of the past where ever small town had a rifle range it but ticking along.
Deer Stalkers Assoc ( Hunters ) and NRA ( Target Shooters ) are barely hanging on in my area . .. nearly all of the old guys are gone now, i count myself lucky to have known some of them.
The future is uncertain for the sport i think . . . some in the media and police are definitely anti-gun, how that will pan out with knee jerk reaction politicians is hard to say.
NZ allows the ownership of any firearm (shotguns, rifles, pistols, machine guns, artillery) subject to having the appropriate license endorsement. Only the 'A' license (shotguns and rifles) is available as of right, the other endorsements are subject to more stringent conditions of security and bona fide intent. These endorsements are; 'B' - pistol club member, 'C' - collector (covers pistols and MG's), 'D' - dealer's license (subject to its own set of regulations), 'E' - military style semi-autos, 'F' - license to carry all types for business purposes (not self-defence). No licence is required for air guns over the age of 18, and genuine antiques are exempt from any license. Firearms licenses may be issued at 16 years of age. Pistols on a 'B' license can only be used on a recognised range, pistols and MG's on a 'C' license may not be fired (other than with blanks at a recognised theatrical event), Military style semi-autos on an 'E' license may be used for any legitimate purpose (target, hunting, pest control). There is no self-defence carry or hunting permitted with pistols. In short, not as open as Alaska but still quite reasonable in comparison with the rest of the World. Roughly 6% of the population have firearms licenses, with an estimated 1.5 million firearms for a population of 4.5 million people.
@Alaskaman 2016
Check this out
Firearms licence - standard license | New Zealand Police
I was raised in a Hunting Family and have never known or lived in a home without a firearm or several firearms.
Cheers
Pete
I must be bipolar GM. According to those statistics I am at least a couple of average firearms license holders.Quote:
Originally Posted by gadgetman
...It reminds me of a good quote I heard from someone I bought some ammo from...
"If you know how many guns you have in your safe, you don't have enough" ! :thumbsup:
With those stats I had better go out and buy a few more thenQuote:
Originally Posted by gadgetman
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YepQuote:
Originally Posted by southernredneck
That's only fair. :)
And if Mum asks who said you could buy more firearms tell her @gadgetman said you could. ;)
Cheers
Pete
I think the problem is that I started with two. In the close, intimate and very private confines of the safe they just seemed to breed.
5.5 ehhh, sounds low going on the safes I have seen into!
5.5 is in the "A" cat safe that "we" buy for the first license, then come the "hidden" safe that the "wife/partner" don't know yet...
Great thread with great answers, great fun!
Mac
Well I'm doing my bit to keep the average up.
In terms of culture, New Zealand has a strong rural backbone and propensity for the outdoors. Most firearms use and ownership stems by in large from these pursuits rather than being considered a separate cultural entity in my opinion.
Most of my family are in guns and hunting of some sort. My father was a war a veteran in WW2 , Korea and Malyasia conflict then he came back and went deer culling in Fioldand, so had shooting guns i my blood so to speak, been shooting guns from since a little boy. am not into shotgun shooting anymore but am the only one in the family that shoots long range on steel and animals. I would like a pistol for hunting the roar/rut but not aloud in this country. If I could afford to run more guns I would get more. I have got a few people into shooting long range and hunting now. The old school way of putting meat on the table is getting lost and more into just shooting anything being paper, targets etc. In saying that ammo is cheaper now than it used to be when every shot counted.
Considering what's in my safes, I must have someone else's allocation.
We have a very safe, friendly and generally excepted gun culture in nz. There is a vocal few in cities who occasionally voice anti gun/hunting...but in general greater nz has a rich history of hunting, deer culling, back country heroes etc that the general public has at least a remote interest in.
Kj
Nice Guys!!! I love your answers. Glad to see NZ has both a firearms heritage and a great deal of respect for the culture itself. You guys should be VERY proud of that many other countries have lost these rights. Keep your guns my friends!!!
The only reason we seem to have retained our rights is that no political group or party have really taken up an anti gun agenda.
There are small groups of people that are anti guns and hunting, but so far they don't have much of a following.
Unfortunately more and more people are leaving rural areas and moving to the cities, so even people that may once have owned rifles are not really shooting anymore.
Thankfully the cities do have a few shooting clubs with some full of new members which is promising.
New Zealand has had guns and hunting deeply rooted in its culture, but with most cities growing much much faster than rural communities and people getting soft, I don't know what the future of our gun culture is.
Just remember firearms education and involvement is the key here to keeping your firearms. Train new people to shoot especially children and address to the public the importance of maintaining healthy pro gun laws. And most importantly make sure you guys put pressure on your politicians and let them know you will not stand for anti gun legislation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beetroot
Scary, that's what it is, and for that reason. Too many 'do gooders' in minority groups getting their 'opinions' listened too. It's scary. I think we will see some big changes over the next couple of decades.
I unfortunately agree. The government is under pressure to move towards the NATO goal of no guns in civilian hands, or very high restrictions. This would thankfully be of no use to the country as they are needed for pest control. Although only 6% of the population possess a firearms licence that would likely mean 15-20% of households with on average about 2 voters. We should not, nor the politicians, underestimate our voice.Quote:
Originally Posted by JoshC
It's UN not NATO. UN has to be the most corrupt organisation going.
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:D I'd be confused if we were part of a North Atlantic treaty!Quote:
Originally Posted by R93
Doh! As you said. The totally ineffective one. Rather than the corrupt one.Quote:
Originally Posted by R93
It is, in every measurable wayQuote:
Originally Posted by R93
There is no "gun culture' in New Zealand as that particular North American term is understood. (Although some anti-gun or anti-hunting people have tried to represent that there is, so they can rail against it. Whenever they mention the other American phrase "gun lobby", I picture a group of elderly deerstalkers at their clubhouse in Oamaru, looking bewildered.)
Firearms are used for hunting or target shooting, or collecting. Owning a firearm for personal self defence, or as part of a militia, or as a natural citizen's right to defend themselves against an oppressive government, is unknown in this country.
A firearms license is a privilege accorded to responsible citizens and can be revoked by the police if they simply consider you are no longer responsible, and this is without any real legal redress. For example, people going through divorces have had their firearms seized, and so have those who have had restraining orders taken out against them, no matter how justified or not.
Every firearm Licence holder or potential licence holder can challenge any official decision in court.Quote:
Originally Posted by Carlsen Highway
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/p.../DLM73319.html
The old guys at deerstalkers aren't the only one with Firearms Licences.
There definitely is a firearm culture in New Zealand, and I'm proud to be part of it.
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That is a good phrase you have coined there Alaskaman, a much better term than 'culture' in regards to the New Zealand situation if you ask me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alaskaman 2016
I disagree. We have a strong heritage of hunting, deerstalking and pig hunting. The emphasis is wrong. We don't have any form of firearms 'heritage' or culture. These politicised concepts are not part of the New Zealand experience. Alaskaman is talking one thing and the guys here are understanding another, without the same associations.
I think New Zealand`s firearms heritage is that of their use as tools in food gathering,pest control,target shooting and as weapons in two World Wars.
Surely the .303 SMLE is an icon of our firearms heritage!
Quote:
Originally Posted by rockland
Some definitions of heritage from Wikipedia:
History, "heritage" refers to historical events or processes that have a special meaning in group memory.
Cultural heritage, the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society: man-made heritage
You are correct Rockland. Our nation's participation in the two world wars made a large contribution to the formation of our national identity and the .303 was central to that.