No shortage of semiautomatic rifles in NZ

Thousands of semi-automatic firearms are being imported to New Zealand so gun owners can rearm after weapons used in the March 15 Christchurch terror attack were banned.

Gun dealers have responded quickly to sweeping law changes which banned most semiautomatic firearms in April, and have been granted licences to import nearly 7000 semi-automatic rifles that remained permitted.

The number of import permits, issued by police, show firearms owners are keen to replace guns headed to the smelter with .22 calibre semi-automatic ‘‘bunny guns’’.

The influx comes as Parliament considers further firearm regulations and a December 20 deadline for a gun buyback scheme looms.

Police have so far collected 32,000 firearms from gun owners, of which 21,000 are military-style semi-automatic (MSSA) rifles.

Only 4000 of these were part of the 14,000 guns that already formally had to be registered with police prior to the April law change.

The smaller-calibre .22 rifles, which can legally hold up to 10 bullets and can resemble militarystyle firearms, escaped the clampdown as they are considered safer than larger calibre weapons and useful for killing farm pests.

In the six months prior to April’s law change, import permits for the same .22 semi-automatic rifles totalled 1000 — a seventh of the import permits sought afterwards.

Critics say the firearms still pose a risk to the community.

A Stuff investigation, The Homicide Project, showed that of 144 gun homicide incidents since 2004, two thirds involved .22 calibre rifles and shotguns.

Massey University senior lecturer Hera Cook, a member of lobby group Gun Control NZ, said New Zealand should have further restricted access of the .22 guns to farmers and other specific occupations — as Australia did.

Cook said a combination of new firearm control measures, such as a firearm register, would assist with mitigating the risk such guns posed.

‘‘The gun lobby should stop moaning.

‘‘There are perfectly acceptable substitutes for the guns that are being handed in, and gun owners are buying them.’’

Council of Licensed Firearm Owners (Colfo) secretary Nicole McKee was not surprised by the uptake of .22 calibre rifles, and said the guns were likely being used for pest control.

Colfo knew of more than 50 people who had been denied a licence to use banned semiautomatic rifles for pest control, she said, so many were turning to the available .22 rifles.

‘‘They’re being told they can do the work with a bolt-action [rifle].

‘‘We do have concerns that a .22 calibre will not be the most humane calibre for larger pests.’’

McKee said firearm laws that targeted unlawful owners, such as firearm prohibition orders, were needed to reduce risk.

Some .22 semi-automatic rifles were designed to look like military weapons for ergonomic reasons, she said.

Police have approved 5395 permits for importing 137,000 firearms between April last and last month.