COLFO News Issue # 4 October 2024
STOP PRESS - From FSA - New Legislation
The government has today (24 September) introduced proposed new legislation to
change the oversight of shooting clubs and ranges. The Arms (Shooting Clubs,
Shooting Ranges, and Other Matters) Amendment Bill is now going through a formal
Parliamentary process. A copy of the proposed bill is online here. The page on
Parliament’s website that will record its progress is here.
Operators and users of shooting clubs and shooting ranges should be aware that the
law has not yet changed. The current requirements of Part 6 of the Arms Act and
Parts 5 and 6 of the Arms Regulations still apply to clubs and ranges.
During this period of change, Te Tari Pūreke will continue to help the firearms
community do the right thing. We will continue to ensure shooting clubs and ranges
are engaged, educated, and encouraged to keep meeting legal obligations to keep
their users and local communities safe.
More information about clubs and range is available on our website here.
If you have any queries about your current obligations as a shooting club or shooting
range operator, you can contact the team here: clubsandranges@police.govt.nz.
Arms Law Reform Under Attack
As reported in our last newsletter Associate Justice Minister Hon Nicole McKee continues
to come under attack lead by Ginny Anderson (Labour Police spokesperson), GCNZ and
the left leaning media over her planned arms law reforms.
The Labour lead campaign has resorted to outright lies focusing on a return of semi
automatic firearms and using scare tactics with continued reference to the Christchurch
massacre.
As Minister McKee has pointed out Labour failed to ban all semi automatics, you can still
possess them if you hold the appropriate endorsement, such as pest control, collector,
theatrical etc. Also recognising many .22 rifles, shotguns and pistol are also lawfully
owned semi autos.
As the minister has frequently pointed out nothing has been decided yet, but all options
are on the table for discussion. Once new laws are drafted everyone will have
opportunity to make submissions at the Select Committee stage.
COLFO Provides Feedback
COLFO and our member organisations, both collectively and individually have provided
constructive feed back to the Ministry of Justice on a draft questionnaire relating to the
firearm registry.
COLFO will be active in all stages of the law reform process over the course of the next
year and encourage all licensed firearm owners to actively engage in the public process.
COLFO Hits Back
COLFO Spokesperson Hugh Devereux-Mack through facebook posts and media interviews
has been vocal in countering the lies of the anti gun campaigners.
For example when GCNZ criticised Minister McKee for using an Order in Council to
urgently provide relief to volunteer club officials by removing the need for clubs and
ranges to make financial and other reports to Police, he pointed out that Labour used 15
such orders to amend firearm laws to avoid public consultation.
COLFO Involved With Coronial Inquiry
COLFO has been working hard behind the scenes with our lawyers preparing for Stage 2
of the Coronial Inquiry into the Christchurch Mosque shooting incident. As a
representative of ALL licensed firearm owners affected by the aftermath of this tragic
event COLFO has been granted Interested Party Status.
This Inquiry will take place in October and will focus on how the shooter obtained his
firearm licence and where and why the failures occurred.
This is a costly exercise for COLFO, if you believe it is important for these issues to be
made public, why not make a donation towards these costs.
Join COLFO or Donate: https://www.colfo.org/join-colfo
COLFO out and about
COLFO Board members have been out and about meeting shooters around the country at
events and Association AGMs.
Christchurch Outdoor Expo - Tom Hemphill (SSANZ) attended the Outdoor Expo with
Hugh Devereux-Mack (NZDA), as well as Sparrowhawk’s Nick Fisher at the NZDA/COLFO
booth alongside local NZDA and Wapiti Foundation members. Engagement with the
public went really well, and all the interactions were positive. It also served as a good
time to network with parts of the shooting community, with the future in mind.
Clubs - Michael Dowling attended the opening of the NRA competition season on the 14th
September, it was a short spell of clear weather in an otherwise wet week. A good turn
out and great to see people out enjoying their sport. NRA have such a long history of
competition it is always great to be a part of it.
Sika Show - COLFO will have a stand at this annual event at Mystery Creek, Hamilton on 2
& 3 November https://www.sikashow.co.nz/ Come along and say hello to the team.
Facts About Firearm Theft
At the last FCAF meeting there was a presentation regarding theft of firearms. A lot
of trawling of police reports had to be done to get the data as there is no specific
code available to run to just pop out the data, however it does make interesting
reading.
In the year 2022 there were 177 theft events and 147 in 2023 (Thefts were not individual
firearms but acts of taking the firearms, so in 2023 there were more than
147 firearms stolen).
In 2022 27% there were unsuccessful attempts reported and 2023 22% unsuccessful.
In 2022 190 firearms were stolen from safes and in 2023 82 were stolen from safes.
In 2022 23 firearms were insecure as in they had not been locked away, in 2023 15
were insecure.
In 2022 12 were stolen from vehicles, and in 2023 14 were stolen from vehicles.
In 2022 109 firearms were taken from Gun safes, and in 2023 82 were taken. These
were safes that were opened with the likes of battery powered cutoff saws etc.
In 2022 of the safes opened 27 used the keys and in 2023 21 thieves had found the
hidden keys and used them to open the safes.
In 2022 there were 26 instances where the whole safe was taken, and in 2023 there
were 19 instances.
The insecure firearms taken were, in a lot of cases, of shooters getting home and
leaving their firearm outside the safe if it had gotten wet etc while it was drying
out.
The insecure and car thefts appeared to be just opportunist thefts which the
criminals stumbled upon.
It seems that criminals also just stumble upon gun safe keys, so be careful where
you hide yours.
The first reading of the clubs and ranges part 6 was yesterday.
You can watch it and the followup discussion here.
Submission now start on this bill and we will post details on this in a day or 2. This is your opportunity to have your say on an issues that you know will actually be read now.
Cheers from COLFO, have a great weekend.
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