Gun owners hold on to weapons
Some Kiwis have already begun surrendering their legally held semi-automatic firearms as the Government promises gun law reforms, but those in Taranaki appear to have adopted a ‘‘wait and see’’ approach.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern revealed this week several ‘‘in principle decisions’’ had been made by Cabinet following the Christchurch terror killings at two mosques last Friday.
Nearly 7000 New Zealanders are endorsed to have the militarystyle semi-automatic guns, and 685 of those people are in the Central District, which includes Taranaki, Whanganui, Palmerston North and Ruapehu.
While many gun advocates on Facebook defended semiautomatic firearms and others described the potential law changes as a ‘‘kneejerk reaction’’, some owners are already choosing to hand them in to police for destruction. David Hartley, who owns Stratford’s Magnum Sports, said he wasn’t aware of anyone from Taranaki voluntarily surrendering their legally held weapons as a result of the proposed law reform.
And though Hunting and Fishing had pulled the weapons from their shelves, he still had some semi-automatic firearms for sale.
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‘‘I think everyone understands something is going to happen,’’ Hartley said.
‘‘They are hoping that the changes will be well thought out and a reasoned response to what has happened rather than change for the sake of change.
‘‘It needs to be a positive change to prevent this from happening again.’’
Hartley said he knew some people had called the police arms officer for advice on what to do.
‘‘Most are approaching it with a wait and see mentality.’’
Taranaki police area commander Inspector Keith Borrell referred questions around whether semi-automatic weapons had been surrendered in the region to the police media team.
In a written statement police media said officers were currently working through collating information at district level on the number of firearms being handed into police.
‘‘We will proactively release information on numbers as soon as they are available. More information on the process will also be released as soon as we have it.’’
Taranaki Rifle Club target shooter Paul Tidswell, of Ha¯ wera, said semi-automatic rifles had a purpose and lots of people owned them.
‘‘They are useful for hunters shooting large herds of goats and for members of service gun clubs for target shooting,’’ Tidswell, a former New Zealand target shooting representative, said.
‘‘Goat cullers use them when you have to need plenty of ammo on a mob of goats.’’
Tidswell said he had shot the weapons on a range but had no desire to own one. He said any law change would ‘‘upset many people’’.