Unity crucial for gun laws: academic
MAINTAINING bipartisan support for further changes in New Zealand’s gun control law is crucial, Prof Kevin Clements says.
‘‘It’s really important because we don’t want gun legislation to become a political football,’’ he said yesterday.
‘‘It would be very nice if there could be both popular and political agreed action’’ to put the best firearms control laws in place.
Prof Clements, who is the inaugural director of the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Otago, said there was strong public support for measures to protect the community.
Six months after Christchurch terrorist shootings had resulted in 51 deaths, New Zealand had made good overall progress.
There had been a political consensus on the first round of gun legislation, which had banned militarystyle semiautomatics and assault rifles, and only the Act party had objected, he said.
A second round of proposed changes will involve the the Arms Legislation Bill, to be read for the first time on September 24.
This includes a register to monitor firearms, and contains new offences and penalties, including for illegal manufacture, and trafficking of guns.
The Bill also includes provisions to enable health practitioners to notify police if they have concerns about a licensed firearm owner’s health or wellbeing.
National police spokesman Brett Hudson yesterday told RNZ that National MPs would discuss the further proposed changes and decide whether to support them.
He had some concerns with the proposed requirement for doctors to notify the police, and hoped that would not discourage people from seeking medical help.
Prof Clements hoped the consensus could be maintained and that any specific concerns by political parties could be addressed at the select committee stage.
New Zealand’s earlier moves to tighten the law and get the buyback scheme under way had been ‘‘a very positive outcome’’.
‘‘There’s a recognition of the fact that these guns are a problem and they do need to be controlled and bought back,’’ he said.