Making the case for gun sales
An arms dealer with a multimillion-dollar turnover, a gun-rights agitator and a family man. Just who is David Tipple? Michelle Duff investigates.
In 1990, a mass murderer ordered ammunition through the post from a shop called Gun City. In 2019, a terrorist ordered four guns and ammunition from the same store.
But David Tipple, an arms dealer who has been selling to the residents of Christchurch and wider New Zealand since 1978, does not lie awake at night worrying about what the guns he sells are used for.
‘‘It’s like being a car dealer, you know there are going to be deaths with cars. What do you sell that doesn’t carry the risk of that?’’ Tipple told Stuff in 2015, after being asked about selling the ammunition later used in the Aramoana massacre.
‘‘I don’t see firearms as the villain . . . I see the psychology as the villain.’’
Four years later, at a press conference yesterday, Tipple acknowledged the ‘‘despicable actions’’ of the Australian man accused of callously taking the lives of 50 Muslim worshippers at two Christchurch mosques on March 15.
And yes, the guns had been bought from his store.
‘‘What we are doing is legal and the majority of people have put in place the Government that set those laws and we are abiding by those laws, which enables us as citizens to peacefully enjoy legitimate activity,’’ he said.
This has long been Tipple’s mantra: guns aren’t the problem, people are. It’s a case the arms dealer and father-of-six has fought solidly both in public and through the legal system.
Today, had there been no terror attack, Tipple’s prosecution against police for their alleged tightening of policy around the importing of semiautomatic weapons would have been heard in court.
Given Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s pledge to change gun laws, Tipple’s lawyer, Nicholas Taylor, confirmed he had asked for an adjournment.
During a 40-year career in gun sales, Tipple has always positioned himself as an ethical gun dealer who is providing a legal service to satisfy costumer demand. To those on either side of the gun debate, he’s a champion or an obstructor.
Stuff tried to contact Tipple for this story, but was told he was not speaking to media.
Last year, Tipple argued training children to use firearms responsibly is a public service.
‘‘What is the result of someone having better knowledge of firearms? Do they turn into mass murderers or do they turn into better members of society? Isn’t that a better question to ask?’’
(In 2011, he told the Sunday Star-Times he would take children aged 4 and older duck shooting but would not let them handle a gun until they were 8.)
Gun City claims to be the world’s largest gun store – which, considering the heightened visibility of guns and ownership in places such as the United States, seems a bold claim. But based on the sheer number of guns – this is not simply an outdoor store – Tipple has always stood by his tagline.
It’s also lucrative, with a reported turnover of more than $20 million a year.
About 250,000 New Zealanders hold gun licences, and police estimate there are about
1.5 million guns in circulation. About 7000 Kiwis have the type of licence – E-category – needed to buy a military-style semiautomatic (MSSA) weapon. David Tipple
But semi-automatic guns like the AR15 and AK47 can be bought on an A-category licence, and easily modified with higher capacity magazines to become MSSAs. These are numbers most of us would never have considered before Friday’s attack. But as the largest gun retailer in the country, Tipple has been importing a sizeable number of these guns and parts since 1978.
Tipple, whose brother and father were keen game shooters, opened the first Gun City in Christchurch when he was 23. He is now in his early 60s. Its current megastore iteration is in suburban Papanui, with seven stores employing 100 people nationwide. His aim as a child was to become a millionaire by the age of 30. Asked once if he’d achieved this, he answered: ‘‘Probably.’’
In 2015, Tipple told Stuff his business turned over $20m a year. His most common customer: a man aged between 18 and 30. The most popular gun for shooting ducks: a semiautomatic, at about $2000.
Tipple has six adult children, most of whom have been involved in the business.
Daughter Chloe is a professional skeet shooter, finishing 13th at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and seventh at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. She began shooting at age 8.
Wife Betsy also has a gun dealer licence.
This came in handy when, in 2002, Tipple was prosecuted in the US for attempting to bring 29 hunting rifles and guns in cardboard boxes through Los Angeles airport without the right paperwork. He also had 340 rounds of live ammunition.
Six months after 9/11, American officials were unhappy and he was jailed for 21 months.
It’s not the first time he’s been on the wrong side of the law; his list of driving convictions date back to 1980, and include a highspeed North Island car chase in 2008 that reportedly went for 16 kilometres before police road spikes put an end to it.
While he’s appeared in the dock as a defendant, Tipple has also prosecuted – or threatened court action – in several cases, mostly around challenging police and customs interpretation of gun laws.
Firearms lawyer Taylor is prosecuting Tipple’s current case, which argues against the way police are enforcing the law around semi-automatic imports.
Tipple says police have begun refusing import licences for AR15 semi-automatic weapons and parts, which goes against the Arms Act. (Police deny a change in policy.)
In 2015, Tipple threatened to bring his own prosecution against journalist Heather duPlessis Allan after she bought a mail-order .22 calibre sporting rifle online from Gun City without a licence, for a story.
She was trying to illustrate how easy it was to get hold of one by forging the form required.
Police investigated but decided not to press charges. Tipple was disappointed. ‘‘Legitimate gun owners need to be protected from media stunts like that,’’ he said.
Those on both sides of the gun debate say that as the country’s biggest retailer, and one who is not afraid of legal action, Tipple’s impact on current legislation is undeniable.
‘‘It is a factor that the gun dealers have a significant monetary investment in keeping the gun laws unchanged in New Zealand,’’ Police Association president Chris Cahill says.
‘‘It’s a multimillion-dollar industry for them, and they work closely with some members of the gun community to make sure there’s resistance to any change at all.
‘‘As soon as police look to bring a commonsense approach to a class of weapons, they’re challenged in court.’’
Others, like pro-gun activist Mike Loder, say Tipple is just doing his job as a responsible gun dealer. Singling him out for criticism is completely unfair, Loder says. ‘‘I’d be looking at police vetting laws before I’d be looking at who is selling the gun legally.’’
❚ 1992 – Tipple fired a gun over the heads of skinheads who were tampering with his car. In the same year he was acquitted of shooting and wounding three would-be burglars who were trying to steal motorcycles from his farm shed.
❚ 1999 – sued the police for defamation over comments made when his firearms dealing licence was revoked. A Christchurch District Court judge found that police made mistakes and gave him his licence back along with $25,000 in costs. A settlement was reached in the defamation case eight years later.
❚ 2002 – arrested and imprisoned for 21 months in the United States for failing to declare weapons after attempting to bring 29 hunting guns and rifles into New Zealand in cardboard boxes.
❚ 2008 – lost his driving licence for eight months after a highspeed North Island car chase that reportedly went for 16 kilometres before police road spikes put an end to it.
❚ 2014 – won a case against Customs in the High Court after the border agency seized 45 blank firing pistols imported from Italy. Tipple’s lawyers argued they were imitation firearms.
❚ 2016 – was pulled over doing 177kmh near the Lindis Pass and the officer calls for backup because Tipple was ‘‘so confrontational’’. The judge disqualified him from driving and mentioned previous convictions for driving at dangerous speed in 1982, dangerous driving in 1980, dangerous driving and failing to stop for police in 1989, and reckless driving and failing to stop for police in 2008.
‘‘I don’t see firearms as the villain . . . I see the psychology as the villain.’’