Thread: Colfo Announce Firearms Registry Review

Originally Posted by Ben Waimata

It's fully understandable and not just for the sake of it, we've all been treated as if we are ciminals, had massive new legislation thrown at us to keep us under control, and to convince the public that we are suitably controlled. No wonder so many shooters feel victimised. Personally I think the egister is far less of an issue than other aspects of the law change, such as range rules, access to semi autos, etc. But given how few farmers, foresters, orchardists etc have applied for P licenses for pest control maybe we are collectively our own worst enemies. It will be hard to mount an argument of the need for semi autos for pest control as the legal access has been available since January 2020 but comparatively there have been very few applications.

A lot of the initial applicants got denied - and were loud about it. Job done really. Now we have massive but silent pest animal population growth and the people who are concerned about it can't fund or don't have sufficient funding to do anything about it and via their roles can't kick up a stink. Bit of an own goal that aspect of it. People could continue to apply pressure to the pest animal populations despite the most efficient tool for the job being removed, but in the majority of cases they've just thrown their hands up and said no longer my problem - why do it for free in that case? I can actually understand that.

Originally Posted by No.3

A lot of the initial applicants got denied - and were loud about it. .

@No.3 Do you know this for a fact? I ask because I heard the same stories, but did not know the people involved or all the details. It is possible the applicants did not fit the strict legislative requirements, eg "pest control on mates place" does not fit the legislation, "significant economic and/or ecological damage from pests eating my crops and/or forest and/or native reserve" does. I have spoken to the guys at PNHQ about this and got the distinct impression they have had very few applications in the land manager category, and accept the majority that come in that fit the requirements, sometimes after re-application to get the wording right. I don't personally know many people who have applied for P for farms but every one was accepted. Most of the applications I have heard of that were declined appear to be because they did not meet the even stricter "fit and proper" status required for P than for A, ie criminal record, history of violence etc, or did not otherwise fit the criteria;

a person who is the owner or manager, or is an employee, of an agricultural, a horticultural, or a silvicultural business, if there is a real possibility that the commercial viability of the business would be detrimentally affected to a significant extent by the presence of prescribed wild animals or animal pests on any land used for that business (subject to prescribed limits, if any). Arms Act 4A, (1), (j).

Originally Posted by Ben Waimata

@No.3 Do you know this for a fact? I ask because I heard the same stories, but did not know the people involved or all the details. It is possible the applicants did not fit the strict legislative requirements, eg "pest control on mates place" does not fit the legislation, "significant economic and/or ecological damage from pests eating my crops and/or forest and/or native reserve" does. I have spoken to the guys at PNHQ about this and got the distinct impression they have had very few applications in the land manager category, and accept the majority that come in that fit the requirements, sometimes after re-application to get the wording right. I don't personally know many people who have applied for P for farms but every one was accepted. Most of the applications I have heard of that were declined appear to be because they did not meet the even stricter "fit and proper" status required for P than for A, ie criminal record, history of violence etc, or did not otherwise fit the criteria;

a person who is the owner or manager, or is an employee, of an agricultural, a horticultural, or a silvicultural business, if there is a real possibility that the commercial viability of the business would be detrimentally affected to a significant extent by the presence of prescribed wild animals or animal pests on any land used for that business (subject to prescribed limits, if any). Arms Act 4A, (1), (j).

A lot of these people as I heard it were not 'commercial' but were family or otherwise closely associated with the operation of the farm. So, in that case - not employed, not a direct owner of the land in the narrow description so failed the first element of the test. When business doesn't operate in the same fashion that the legislative people dictate it creates something hard to fight against. These same farms are now reporting a noticeable increase in non-business animal spread and also in expansion of species that haven't been reported in those areas before. I note several farms in the king country are reporting small herds of red deer with fallow making an appearance as well where they have never been recorded before, and there are reports I've heard of Sika a lot further from their 'traditional' areas than what is their reported range. Closer to home (apparently no deer in the Kaimais), wallaby are spreading slowly and we have more deer of several species to chose from and numbers of pigs are going up as well.

Originally Posted by No.3

A lot of these people as I heard it were not 'commercial' but were family or otherwise closely associated with the operation of the farm. So, in that case - not employed, not a direct owner of the land in the narrow description so failed the first element of the test. When business doesn't operate in the same fashion that the legislative people dictate it creates something hard to fight against. These same farms are now reporting a noticeable increase in non-business animal spread and also in expansion of species that haven't been reported in those areas before. I note several farms in the king country are reporting small herds of red deer with fallow making an appearance as well where they have never been recorded before, and there are reports I've heard of Sika a lot further from their 'traditional' areas than what is their reported range. Closer to home (apparently no deer in the Kaimais), wallaby are spreading slowly and we have more deer of several species to chose from and numbers of pigs are going up as well.

Yeah this is the problem, and exactly why we need ACT to reform the firearm laws before the country needs to start spending billions of dollars on catch-up pest control. I have heard that wallabies are the pest problem that gets access to semi autos more easily, due to pressure on PNHQ from Regional Councils. All my dealings with PNHQ have been very helpful, I feel like they understand the issues very well and are only held back by the legislation. Which is why it's so annoying that so many farmers with pest problems are not applying, just saying "it's too hard" without making any effort to even try.